Center for Medicare Advocacy Event Recording: 2026 National Voices of Medicare Summit
The Center for Medicare Advocacy (CMA) held its annual National Voices of Medicare Summit on May 20. The 2026 Summit theme was "Defending the Public Promise."
The Summit brought together leaders in advocacy, policymaking, medicine, philanthropy and academia to discuss the best practices, solutions and opportunities in efforts to advance access to comprehensive Medicare coverage, health equity and quality health care.
CMA also honored Dr. Natalia Chalmers DDS, MHSc, PhD, with the 2026 Alfred J. Chiplin, Jr. Social Justice & Advocacy Award.
Featured speakers, panelists and moderators included:
- Ariana Aboulafia (Disability Rights in Technology Policy Project Director, Center for Democracy & Technology)
- Alison Barkoff (Senior Fellow, National Academy of Social Insurance, former Acting Administrator, Administration for Community Living)
- Sarah Coombs (Director, Health System Transformation at the National Partnership for Women & Families)
- Leo Cuello, J.D. (Research Professor, Center for Children and Families, McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University)
- Tim Engelhardt (Executive Director, Aging & Disability Health Policy Lab)
- Natalie Kean (Managing Director of Health Advocacy, Justice in Aging)
- Martin O’Malley (Former Social Security Administration Commissioner)
- Wendell Potter (Insurance reform advocate, Center for Health & Democracy)
- Rebecca Vallas (CEO, National Academy of Social Insurance)
- David Lipschutz (Co-Director, CMA)
- Scott Perkins; (Co-Director, CMA)
- Kata Kertesz (Managing Policy Attorney, CMA)
- Judith Stein (Founder, CMA)
Watch the Summit recording.
Access the Summit transcript and program.
Learn more about CMA.
Learn more about JAHF's support of CMA.
Original post 4/13/26, updated 5/26/26
