Programs

The Health Coverage Fellowship was founded in 2002 as a program designed to help Massachusetts-based newspaper, radio, television, and online reporters and editors do a better job covering critical health care issues. Beginning in 2025, the Center for Health Communication at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health will host the thirteen journalists selected from across the country for an intensive nine days and nights of training.  Information on the program and the 2025 application process can be found on their site. 

History of the Health Coverage Fellowship

The fellowship focuses on issues ranging from public health and mental health to covering the uninsured, controlling skyrocketing costs, and upgrading quality. More than 80 speakers participate each year, including top health officials, policy experts, and researchers. The program also brings its journalists into the field to watch first-hand how the system works, from walking the streets at night with mental health case workers to riding in a Medflight helicopter.

The fellowship, which the Foundation operated for its first twenty-three years, is housed at Babson College’s Executive Conference Center in Wellesley, and is supported by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation in collaboration with other funders. The fellowship is directed by Larry Tye, a former Nieman fellow who covered health and the environment for 15 years at the Boston Globe and has written seven books.