Changes to Medicaid Under the Public Health Emergency

Leslie Fried is the senior director of the Center for Benefits Access at the National Council on Aging (NCOA).  She directs the Center’s activities to support community-based organizations outreach and enrollment activities of low-income older adults and advocates for improved access to Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP and other public benefits for seniors and adults with disabilities of limited means. Prior to joining the NCOA, Ms. Fried was a senior attorney with the American Bar Association (ABA) Commission on Law and Aging.  For 14 years at the ABA, Ms. Fried was the Medicare Advocacy Project attorney, a collaborative project with the national Alzheimer’s Association. Before joining the ABA, Ms. Fried was the managing attorney, of Legal Services for Senior Citizens of Montgomery County, Maryland. 

In 2019, Ms. Fried was appointed to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Advisory Panel for Outreach and Education. From 2005-2009, she was a patient advocate member of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee. She is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance, a nonpartisan organization made up of the nation's leading experts on social insurance.

Ms. Fried received her B.A. from the University of Michigan and her J.D. from the University of Maryland. She is a member of the Maryland, District of Columbia and Supreme Court bars.

Ann is the Senior Program Manager, for Medicare at NCOA where she helps local, state and regional organizations develop and implement strategies to find, counsel and assist Medicare beneficiaries apply and enroll in benefits for which they may be eligible.

Over the past 25 years Ann has had the opportunity to work in many parts of the health care industry including managed care, patient assistance programs, and provider and sales force relations.  Prior to joining NCOA, Ann managed the operations for the State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) in Montgomery County, Maryland helping the most vulnerable populations gain access to the health care benefits and services.  

Ann received her B.S. in Health Care Management from Kings College in Wilke-Barre, PA and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN.