Podcast: “Could you make it worse?” Redesigning HealthCare.gov

A self-described “failed architect,” Sha Hwang joins Lou to discuss the challenges of scale when merging two companies, and his journey from Trulia and Stamen Design to being part of the team that rescued Healthcare.gov and, subsequently, founding Nava, a public benefit corporation formed during those efforts.

Sha Recommends:
• Civic Technologist’s Practice Guide 

Sha will be speaking at Design at Scale 2021 this June 9-11. About Sha’s talk, The Lost Year: The pandemic made it painfully clear that the failure of critical public services causes real harm, both physical and financial. Our healthcare system is being overwhelmed, millions are pouring onto unemployment, and we’ve seen an unprecedented number of people trying to access government programs. It has never been more important for government services to be simple, effective, and accessible to all, yet we’re far from that vision today. In this talk, Sha Hwang, co-founder and chief operating officer of Nava Public Benefit Corporation, will discuss the opportunities designers have to build government services that prioritize equity and resiliency—and the responsibility that comes with designing systems that serve millions of people.

About Sha:
Sha Hwang is the COO and co-founder of Nava, a public benefit corporation formed during efforts to help fix HealthCare.gov. Nava partners with government agencies to improve critical public services, and now works across several projects in the US on programs including Medicare, Veterans Affairs, and unemployment benefits and paid family leave at the state level. Nava has helped tens of millions of people enroll in critical programs, streamlined processes to save decades of labor years, and saved government agencies hundreds of millions of dollars. A failed architect and accidental entrepreneur, Sha has worked with clients such as the New York Times, the Harvard Library Lab, MTV, Flickr, and Adobe. Previously, Sha worked at Stamen Design and later cofounded the company Movity, which was acquired by Trulia.