Policy Punchline

What does it take to make health care work for everyone? In this episode of Policy Punchline, former CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure joins Princeton students Alice McCarthy ’27 and Aiko Offner ’27 to reflect on her years leading the agency that runs Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, and HealthCare.gov for more than 160 million Americans. We explore how the U.S. achieved historic coverage gains under the Affordable Care Act and why maintaining that progress has proved so fragile. Brooks-LaSure reflects on the constant tension between innovation and cost control, the bureaucratic frictions that still leave millions without care, and the deeper question of who should bear responsibility for the social conditions that shape health. She offers a frank look at the limits of reform in a system constrained by politics, paperwork, and inequity, before turning to America’s maternal health crisis and her drive to embed equity at the core of CMS policy amid efforts to roll back years of progress. This interview, conduct