Teresa Miller, most recently the Pennsylvania insurance commissioner, has been tapped to lead the state’s Department of Human Services, and an acting insurance commissioner has been named.
Gov. Tom Wolf had in May announced that Miller would head a new agency that would combine the state’s separate Department of Health and Department of Human Services. The Pennsylvania state House and Senate said it needs more time to study such a merger.
Teresa Miller
In making the Miller announcement to state workers through an email, Wolf also said that Jessica Altman would serve as acting insurance commissioner of the Pennsylvania Insurance Department.
“Commissioner Miller is the right person for that job – her experience, leadership, and advocacy are evident during her tenure at the department,” Wolf said in his email to state employees.
Before being named insurance commissioner in 2015, Miller was a lawyer specializing in the implementation and enforcement of the Affordable Care Act. She served as acting director of the State Exchanges Group, the Oversight Group and the Insurance Programs Group in the federal government’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Before going to Washington, Miller served as the administrator of the Oregon Insurance Division.
Jessica Altman
Altman was Miller’s chief of staff for the past two years, and previously worked on policy for the federal Department of Health and Human Services between earning her undergraduate degree and beginning post-graduate studies in 2013. She graduated from Cornell University in 2010 with a B.S. in policy analysis, and earned a Master of Public Policy degree from Harvard University in 2015.
When first announcing his intention in May to nominate Miller to lead a proposed unified health and human services department, Wolf said: “Teresa Miller has established herself quickly in Pennsylvania as a leader in her field, an advocate for consumers and the less fortunate, and an effective administrator whose department quickly found new success in a challenging national environment.”
He added, “Over the past two years, Commissioner Miller has fought to protect health care for seniors and kids, increased the department’s efforts for consumer protection and education, and made the department more transparent.”
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