Press Release April 15, 1999	Contact: Diana Bianco or Betsy Imholz, 415/431-6747 Consumers Union's West Coast Regional Office

 

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- Consumers Union, nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, has chosen Diana Bianco to lead health policy work for the group's West Coast Regional Office. Bianco, staff attorney and policy analyst, will direct the office's health policy agenda, lobbying on health care issues, representing consumers on panels and coalitions, and working to improve access to and quality of health care for low-income and moderate-income Californians.

Bianco has been with Consumers Union since 1997, monitoring the conversion of nonprofit health care institutions to for-profit corporations and providing technical advice to interested groups, legislators, regulators and attorneys general throughout the country. Bianco replaces Betsy Imholz, who recently became director of the West Coast office of Consumers Union.

"Diana brings great experience, skill, and enthusiasm to our health work," said Imholz. "I'm extremely proud to pass the baton to her."

"There are many opportunities in California to increase protections for health care consumers and expand coverage," Bianco said. "It's an exciting time to be working on these issues, and it's a privilege to be at an organization that is so well-respected in the field."

Prior to joining Consumers Union's staff, Bianco was a health and disability rights advocate in Oregon and New York. She was a staff attorney and Skadden Fellow with the Oregon Advocacy Center, where she represented individuals with disabilities in health care matters, employment discrimination cases, and other issues under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Bianco also frequently spoke to groups about how the trend towards managed care affects people with disabilities and other consumers of health care. Bianco was also the consumer representative on the panel that authored Oregon's managed care protection bill, and subsequently served on the Oregon Health Care Consumer Protection Advisory Committee. Before attending law school, Bianco was the Assistant Director of the National Helpers Network and a policy analyst for the New York City Mayor's Office of Operations, where she worked on health care, employment, and other social service issues.

Bianco is a cum laude graduate of New York University School of Law where she was a Root-Tilden-Snow Scholar and the winner of the Eric Dean Bender Award for her public interest work. She received her BA from Brown University.