Health Policy Center, independent research for better health policy: The Urban Institute

Stephen Zuckerman, Ph.D., is a senior fellow in the Health Policy Center of the Urban Institute.  He received his doctorate in economics from Columbia University in 1983 and has studied health economics and health policy for almost 25 years.

Currently, he is addressing changes in Medicare benefit design that could protect Medicare's most vulnerable beneficiaries, Medicare and Medicaid physician payment, the impact of undocumented immigrants on the U.S. Health care system, and medical homes.  He recently co-authored a study examining the determinants of geographic differences in Medicare spending across individuals.  Other issues he has worked on include Medicaid financing, crowd-out of private coverage by SCHIP, state coverage expansions for adults, the health care safety net, and survey approaches for measuring insurance coverage.

Dr. Zuckerman also co-directed the development of the Geographic Practice Cost Indices used in the Medicare physician fee schedule.  Prior to joining the Institute, he worked at the American Medical Association's Center for Health Policy Research.