Kristen Golden Testa

From October 2005 – March 2006, Kristen visited CHERE from the United States as one of two Packer Policy Fellows , awarded to conduct health policy research in Australia. Her research focuses on Australian families’ out-of-pocket costs for health care.

While at CHERE she examined recent Government reforms designed to make healthcare more affordable, such as the Medicare Safety Net and bulk-billing.  “In America the leading cause of bankruptcy for families is healthcare debt; out-of-pocket costs are a significant issue for families in all countries,” Kristen said. Her research examines the extent to which out-of-pocket spending is changing after the Australian reforms and how wealthy and poor alike fare.

Kristen enjoyed her time with CHERE commenting on the great collaborative nature of the centre.  “The people here are smart and genuinely interested in each other’s research.  It is a great work environment and I am sure a higher quality of research is produced as a result of all the supportive collaboration”, Kristen said.

In the United States, Kristen has extensive experience in health policy development and analysis both inside and outside of government. In California, she works as the Health Director at The Children’s Partnership, which is a policy research and advocacy organization pursuing health insurance for all US children.  She will resume this project when she returns to the US at which time she will be pursuing a ballot initiative that would legislate universal health insurance for children in California.

Formerly, she was the Assistant Secretary for Program and Fiscal Affairs for the California Health and Human Services Agency. In this role, she oversaw the policy and budget issues for the two major health insurance programs for children and low-income Californians. Prior to her State political appointment, Kristen served as the health policy staff for the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance (for the Ranking Member, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan), serving as the lead for legislation on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). She also worked at the U.S Department of Health and Human Services on budget and policy issues relating to health insurance programs. She received a Master’s degree in Health Science from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and a Bachelor’s degree in Science from Tufts University.

She lives in San Francisco, California with her husband, Matt, and their dog, Ezra. They plan to build their first home on their own from straw bale. In her spare time, Kristen does Capoeira (Brazilian martial arts), camps, hikes, and loves to do several crafts like sewing, knitting, and mosaics.