Richard Figueroa
Deputy Cabinet Secretary, Office of Governor Gavin Newsom
Richard Figueroa is a deputy cabinet secretary in Governor Gavin Newsom’s office, where he works on health, human services, and veterans’ issues. Figueroa, who earned his MBA at UCLA in 1983, was previously director of prevention for The California Endowment, a foundation with a long track record of commitment to advancing health equity for all Californians.
Figueroa has served three California governors on health-related issues and he has a long track record of working to increase access to health insurance and lower the cost for Californians.
Figueroa served on the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, where they ran public-private partnerships to provide coverage for groups of individuals that were hard to cover through private insurance because of pre-existing conditions. At the time, even pregnancy was considered a pre-existing condition.
During his tenure, the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board created the Health Insurance Plan for California, the state’s first public co-op for small businesses to purchase insurance and a program for uninsured pregnant women. These private-sector health plan programs were state-sponsored and, in some cases, had state subsidies. The outcome: greater access to coverage for individuals.
Figueroa has also served as legislative director for Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi and a legislative consultant for the California State Senate Insurance and Budget and Fiscal Review Committees, and worked in the Legislative Analyst’s Office.