Bowen Garrett is an economist and senior fellow in the Health Policy Division at the Urban Institute. His research focuses on health reform and health policy, combining rigorous empirical methods and economic analysis with an understanding of the policy landscape to better inform policymaking. His recent work has examined issues related to Medicare financing and sustainability. He leads the development and application of the Urban Institute’s Medicare Reform Simulation Model (MCARE-SIM), used to estimate the effects of a wide range of potential reforms to Medicare on beneficiaries and government spending. Previously, he designed and led the development of Urban Institute's Health Insurance Policy Simulation Model and conducted numerous studies of the likely effects of alternative reform proposals for federal and state policymakers and private foundations. He has written extensively on employer-sponsored insurance, Medicaid and the uninsured, Medicare's prospective payment systems, and Medicare Advantage. Garrett received his PhD in economics from Columbia University in 1996 and was a postdoctoral research fellow in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Scholars in Health Policy Research Program at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1996 to 1998.