An Interview With Gad Nziramakenga

 

1. What are your names? 

Gad Nziramakenga 

2. Where did you go to school? 

Kennesaw State University MBA, Southern Nazarene University

3. What did you study? 

Computer Science

4. Tell us about what you do?

I am a Treasury Management Reporting Analyst in one of the big banks in the US. I have mostly worked in the Healthcare and banking sector as Senior Business Analyst. In the health care sector..mostly implementing policy changes technologically to help the under privileged population. Banking environment i work with brilliant people and I mostly focus on features that improve client experience.  Basically system improvements.

5. What are some of the major influences in your past that are determining what you are doing now? 

Major influences..I would say in my healthcare sector projects.  We implemented policies technologically that brought value to under privileged people.

I have been working from home but occasionally I go into the office and the people I work with are brilliant and great to work with. We work as a team and rely on each other expertise to accomplish most of the tasks we work on. The leaders are supportive and great to work with.

6.Tell us about some of the projects that you are involved in. What benefits do you see that you gained from your education or training?

Previous project was determination of Eligibility for people who receive Medicaid. Mostly what I have done. Now it is mostly reporting on global payments ach, swift etc. This help commercial to commercial and global

7. What do you think about the Technology and Innovation Ecosystem of your current State South Carolina? 

I believe an ecosystem is a community of interacting objects. In South Carolina Tech and innovation is prioritized. For example in one of the projects I was working on, South Carolina was modernizing its *Medicaid system to better serve and give value to the citizens of SC. Part of the modernization was integrating correspondence via the mobile devices to better meet the needs of the Medicaid beneficiaries.

Medicaid provides comprehensive coverage and financial protection for millions of Americans, most of whom are in working families. Despite their low income, Medicaid enrollees experience rates of access to care comparable to those among people with private coverage. In addition to acute health care, Medicaid covers costly long-term care for millions of seniors and people of all ages with disabilities, in both nursing homes and the community. Medicaid bolsters the private insurance market by acting as a high-risk pool providing coverage for many uninsured people who were excluded from the private, largely employment-based health insurance system because of low income, poor health status, or disability. Medicaid also supports Medicare by helping low-income Medicare beneficiaries pay for premiums and cost-sharing and providing long-term services and supports that are not covered by Medicare.

Accounting for one-fifth of health care spending, Medicaid funding is a major source of support for hospitals and physicians, nursing homes, and jobs in the health care sector. The guarantee of federal matching funds on an open-ended basis allows states the flexibility to use Medicaid to address health priorities such as addressing the opioid epidemic. The financing structure also provides support for states to allow Medicaid to operate as safety net when economic shifts and other dynamics cause coverage needs to grow.

As Medicaid plays a large role in both federal and state budgets and is the primary source of coverage for low-income Americans, it is a constant source of debate. Efforts to repeal and replace the ACA also included fundamental reforms to Medicaid to cap federal financing through a block grant or per capita cap. Such proposals were narrowly defeated in 2017. Important Medicaid issues to watch in 2019 include Medicaid expansion developments and continued focus on changing the program through Medicaid demonstration waiver activities, including those focused on work requirements and other eligibility restrictions as well as potential waivers to reshape Medicaid financing. In addition, other areas in Medicaid to watch are reforms in benefits, payment and delivery systems, efforts to address social determinants of health, efforts to control prescription drug costs, and expand capacity to address the opioid epidemic and provide community based long-term care services. Congress and states could also consider broader health reform that could expand the role of public programs in health care including Medicare for All or Medicaid buy-in programs that could have significant implications for Medicaid.

https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/10-things-to-know-about-medicaid-setting-the-facts-straight/