U.S. PIRG Staff

Mike Russo is U.S. PIRG’s Federal Program Director. From 2010 to 2012, he was U.S. PIRG’s Policy Analyst for Health Care, based in our Los Angeles office. In that role, he worked at the federal level and with state PIRGs around the country on policy issues including public health and health care. Previously to joining U.S. PIRG, Russo was CALPIRG’s Health Care advocate. He led CALPIRG's health care work during California’s 2007-08 push for health care reform, and during the federal effort in 2009-10.  In those campaigns his work included leading outreach efforts to pro-reform small business owners, and coordinating policy analysis and response.

Russo has authored and co-authored numerous reports on health care policy, including Delivering on the Promise, a guide to state-level implementation of 2010’s health care reform law; Making the Grade, which scored state health insurance exchanges on their consumer-friendliness and ability to drive lower costs; and the Young Person’s Guide to Health Care, a consumer-friendly explanation of the new options young people have under the health reform law. He also helped create OSPIRG’s Health Insurance Rate Watch program, which analyzes and watchdogs insurer’s rate filings – a program which has saved consumers over $25 million. Russo is a graduate of the California Institute of Technology and Columbia Law School.