Ali Bers represents older adults and people with disabilities in federal litigation aimed at making systemic improvements to Medicare. She has litigated numerous class actions challenging policies that improperly deny Medicare coverage or that violate beneficiaries’ appeal rights in the Medicare program. Her work includes serving as lead counsel in a case that established appeal rights for a nationwide class of Medicare beneficiaries who were denied coverage of their hospital and nursing home stays. Ms. Bers briefed and argued a defense of the trial decision that resulted in full affirmance by the Second Circuit. Other representative work includes bringing a case that resulted in an Eleventh Circuit win on behalf of a beneficiary who was denied coverage of a critically-needed medication. Ms. Bers was also part of the legal team that achieved the nationwide Jimmo v. Sebelius settlement, which clarified that “improvement” is not required for Medicare coverage of skilled care. She has written and co-authored amicus briefs in cases that affect the health care of people who rely on Medicare. Ms. Bers also speaks and writes on Medicare topics as part of the Center for Medicare Advocacy’s educational activities.
Before joining the Center, Ms. Bers was an elder law attorney in private practice and a staff attorney at Western Massachusetts Legal Services (now Community Legal Aid). At Legal Services, she assisted low-income clients with public benefits and she represented older adults and disabled individuals as part of the Massachusetts Medicare Advocacy Project. She was a law clerk for the Honorable Robert N. Chatigny of the U.S. District Court in Connecticut. Ms. Bers is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and served for 14 years on the Board of Directors of Square One, a non-profit provider of early education and child care based in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Ms. Bers received her B.A., magna cum laude, from Columbia University and her J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School. She is admitted to the state bars of Connecticut and Massachusetts, several federal district and appellate courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court.