David T. Applegate

Bringing over 15 years’ experience in public policy and stakeholder engagement expertise, David helps states conceptualize, build, and design effective policies and programming as they look to ensure access to healthcare in their communities. David’s particular focus is behavioral healthcare and supporting states to preserve and expand access to treatment for mental health and substance use disorders. He has worked with clients on a range of behavioral health issues and topics, such as the implementation of Certified Community Behavioral Health Centers (CCBHCs), mental health and addiction parity, Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) programs, workforce issues, and a variety of other reform efforts to help states meet the behavioral health needs of different populations and communities.

Beyond behavioral healthcare, David provides clients with in-depth research and analysis on a wide range of policy issues in health and human services. This includes recent work assisting states in reforming and strengthening their child welfare systems so as to better meet the needs of children in foster care and support state goals for family preservation.

In addition to policy and program design, David brings extensive experience conducting stakeholder interviews, conducting focus groups, and designing surveys. With his diverse professional background and experience convening and eliciting input from stakeholders and representing a wide spectrum of interests and viewpoints, David is well poised to assist clients as they implement programming and form policies that balance the needs and demands of a wide range of interests.

Prior to joining Milliman, David held a variety of positions working with elected officials and advocacy groups across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. David was previously the Director of State Policy and Advocacy at The Kennedy Forum Illinois, where his focus was on developing and advancing public policy solutions that increased access to behavioral healthcare, particularly with regards to mental health and addiction parity. In this role, he worked closely with the spectrum of stakeholders and interested parties, including consumers, healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies, health plans, state regulatory agencies, and state legislators. Prior to this role, David held a staff position in the United States Senate where his primary focus was on stakeholder engagement and outreach in the areas of health and environmental policy.