Law students leading local Obamacare implementation efforts


Allan

Allan Zullinger assists an FIU student with her application.

FIU Law students Anthony Rouzier and Allan Zullinger are leading the local Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation effort by providing assistance to hundreds of FIU students and families. Rouzier and Zullinger, who are both certified application counselors trained by the Health Council of South Florida, started meeting with FIU students and their families in February 2014 to counsel them on their health coverage options through the ACA Marketplace.

Rouzier, who graduates this May with a dual JD/MBA degree, has a background in health care as co-founder and president of Henry Gets Moving, a childhood obesity awareness campaign. He became interested in the ACA because it aligned his experience in health care with his education in both law and business.

As a certified application counselor for ACA enrollment, Rouzier has used his healthcare, legal and business knowledge to help the university community; the process involves complicated issues of tax, family and immigration law. He intends to use his experience providing ACA counseling in his career as a social entrepreneur and health advocate. 

Zullinger, a third-year law student, began learning about the ACA this past fall semester as a student attorney in FIU Law’s Health Law and Policy Clinic. He successfully represented a medically-underseved Miami woman in a Social Security disability hearing. During the hearing, he experienced the devastating effect that long-term lack of health insurance had on his client’s well-being.

After being in a bike accident last semester, Zullinger’s experience with the healthcare system became personal. He wrote an op-ed that was published by the Washington Post. He has since been invited to share his healthcare story at events where he shared the stage with Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, and at a separate event, First Lady Michelle Obama.

As a certified application counselor, Zullinger works to ensure that young people at FIU are able to access affordable health coverage. Zullinger graduates from FIU Law in May and is looking forward to a career in health law or government.

Their effort to assist their peers, fellow “young invincibles,” at FIU has garnered national media attention. To date, Rouzier and Zullinger have helped nearly 100 FIU students and their families enroll in affordable health coverage through the ACA Marketplace.