Team Members

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.

Education:

• University of Wisconsin Law School, Madison, WI Juris Doctor, 1979
• Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA Bachelor of Arts, 1975
  Awards: Phi Beta Kappa; Honors in Social Thought and Institutions

Presentations and Publications:

• Harmatz, Miriam Harmatz, DeBriere, Katy, Statewide Poverty Health Law Programs: Necessary to a Legal Aid Delivery System, MIE Journal, Vol. XXXV. No. 1, Spring, 2021,
  https://floridahealthjustice.org/uploads/1/1/5/5/115598329/2021_spring_journal_final.pdf
• Harmatz, Miriam Harmatz, et al. The Advocate’s Guide to the Florida Long-Term Medicaid Program https://floridahealthjustice.org/medicaid-guide.html (4th Ed.Jan. 2021 .
• Harmatz, Miriam, et al., The Advocate’s Guide to the Florida Medicaid Program (April, 2018), https://floridahealthjustice.org/publications–news/florida-health-justice-project-issues-advocates guide-to-florida-medicaid-law.
• Harmatz, Miriam, Op-ed “Florida continues to deny vulnerable healthcare. Congress must do it,” The Miami Herald, (July 23, 2021), https://www.miamiherald.com/article252961333.html
• Harmatz, Miriam; Yager, Alison, Op-ed, “Do Florida Lawmakers know COVID-19 is a public health emergency? They’re not acting like it”, The Miami Herald, (March 15, 2020),
• Harmatz, Miriam, Op-ed, “Medicaid could keep more people healthy if Florida agreed to expand it,” The Miami Herald, (July 30, 20219)
• Harmatz, Miriam, et al., Facing South Florida: Obamacare Repeal, CBS Miami, (Jan. 15, 2017), http://miami.cbslocal.com/2017/01/15/facing-south-florida-obamacare-repeal/.
• Harmatz, Miriam, Don’t Repeal ACA without an Instant Replacement, The Miami Herald (Dec. 25, 2016), http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article122604669.html.
• Harmatz, Miriam, New Florida Legal Services Report Examines Financial Challenges to Health Care System, Georgetown University Health Policy Institute Center for Children and Families (Aug. 24, 2016),
  http://ccf.georgetown.edu/2016/08/24/new-florida-legal-services-report-examines-financial-challenges to-health-care-system/.
• Harmatz, Miriam, How Cuts to Safety Net Hospitals Impact the Uninsured in a State that Rejected Medicaid Expansion Funding, Georgetown University Health Policy Institute Center for Children and 2 Families (March 29, 2016),
  http://ccf.georgetown.edu/2016/03/29/floridas-failure-expand-medicaid-cutting-funds-safety-net-hospit als/.
• Harmatz, Miriam, et al., The Fight for Medicaid Coverage of Evidence-Based Behavioral Treatments for Autism,Clearinghouse Rev. (Sept. 2015),
  http://povertylaw.org/clearinghouse/The-Fight-for-Medicaid-Coverage.
• Harmatz, Miriam “Give Florida’s Uninsured Medicaid Coverage,” Op-Ed, The Miami Herald (Feb. 5, 2014), http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/02/05/v-print/3915113/give-floridas-uninsured-medicaid.html.
• Interview with the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law (April 2014), http://www.povertylaw.org/cr/interviews/harmatz

Significant Cases as Lead Counsel:

• K.G. ex rel. Garrido v. Dudek, 981 F. Supp. 2d 1275 (S.D. Fla. 2013), aff’d in part and modified in part, 731 F. 3d 1152 (11th Cir. 2013). Successfully challenged Florida’s rule excluding coverage of any behavioral treatments of autism, including Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), the only evidence-based treatment for autism.
• Smith v. Benson, 703 F. Supp.2d 1262 (S.D. Fla.) Successfully challenged the state Medicaid rule that excluded coverage of diapers without exception. Court granted summary judgment and permanent injunctive relief.
• Reid, et al. v. Agwunobi, Case No. 08-60040 Civ-Zlock (S.D. Fla. 2008.) Successfully challenged the Medicaid agency’s failure to provide the requisite notice regarding good cause disenrollment rights form Medicaid managed care organizations. Prior to a ruling on summary judgment, the agency agreed to amend their notices and choice counselor script to comply with federal law in the case, and the parties settled.
• Edmonds, et al. v. Levine, 417 F. Supp. 2d 1323 (S.D. Fla. 2006) Successfully challenged state policy of denying off-label uses of a widely prescribed drug. Plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment was granted, and the Court ordered permanent injunctive relief.
• Hernandez, et al. v. Medows, No. 02-20964, U. S. Dist. Ct., S.D. Fla. Class of present and future Medicaid recipients whose prescription drug claims were denied without notice or hearing rights challenged the state’s violation of due process. under federal Medicaid law and the Fourteenth Amendment. Court certified the class (see Hernandez v. Medows, 209 F.R.D. 665), and the parties executed a comprehensive and enforceable settlement agreement which is incorporated in a final order and in the state’s rule governing prescription drug coverage.
• Cross Creek Health Care v. DeCosta, 818 So. 2d 502, (Fla.1st DCA 2002) Successfully represented client in appeal of nursing home discharge.
• Harris, et al. v. Cook, No. 96-2994 Civ (S.D. Fla. 1996) Successful class action which challenged the Agency for Health Care Administration’s (AHCA) approval of a plan that eliminated Medicaid coverage of nonpublic transportation services for all mental health day treatment patients in Miami-Dade County.
• Kurnik v. Agency for Health Care Administration, 661. So. 2d 914 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995) Successful appeal on behalf of client seeking reimbursement for out-of-pocket losses due to Medicaid agency errors. Court found that Florida’s policy of providing reimbursement only to providers violated the client’s rights under federal Medicaid law .

Honors and Awards:

• 2006 Florida Bar Foundation Steven M. Goldstein Award for Excellence
• 2007 Daily Business Review (South Florida) Award for Most Effective Class Action Lawyer
• 2010 Daily Business Review Award for Most Effective Public Interest Lawyer
• 2013 Florida Bar Foundation Paul Doyle Award for Children’s Advocacy Award
• 2014 Daily Business Review Award for Most Effective Public Interest Lawyer
• 2014 Joined National Health Law Program Board of Directors
• 2015 Georgetown Center for Children and Families Annual Award for Healthcare Advocacy
• 2022 Health Foundation of South Florida, Inspiring Women of Health Award

Bar Admissions:

• Bar Member:  Florida
• Court Admissions:  S.D. Fla., M.D. Fla., N.D. Fla., 11th Cir. Ct. App., W.D. Wis., W.D.