Miriam Harmatz

Miriam, one of Florida’s leading Medicaid advocates, founded the Florida Health Justice Project in 2017. She served as FHJP’s Executive Director for four years and Advocacy Director for three years.Miriam holds a life-long belief in healthcare as a human right, and has devoted her career to helping ensure access to care for low income Floridians. Prior to founding FHJP, she was a leading poverty health lawyer at state and local legal services programs and an adjunct professor in the Health Law Clinic at Florida International University College of Law. Miriam served on the Board of the National Health Law Program (NHeLP).Miriam was lead counsel on multiple federal court cases resulting in statewide relief for Medicaid beneficiaries. These successful outcomes, including federal court cases of first impression and with national import, are the result of highly collaborative work with NHeLP attorneys, Florida legal aid lawyers and pro bono attorneys. On a local level, Miriam led collaborative efforts that improved access and transparency at Miami-Dade County’s publicly funded hospital. This work includes administrative complaints successfully challenging outpatient and inpatient admission deposit policies, discrimination against foreign-born county residents, and violations of consumer protections provided under the Affordable Care Act, the first complaint of its kind in the nation.