Healthcare Reporter

Who we are

Semafor is a global news platform for an increasingly complex world in which consumers are overwhelmed by too many news sources and unsure what to trust. We are building Semafor to enable world-class journalists to deliver reporting and insights with rigor in journalistic forms that ensure a new level of transparency. Our editors and reporters distill the most important stories from all over in formats that uncover the forces shaping the stories, explain the interests behind polarizing narratives, and replenish the stock of shared facts. As a global platform, Semafor recognizes that smart people can disagree and that informed readers need to understand alternative points of view from competing centers of power and culture in a multi-polar world. Want to join us? Read on. 

About the role

We are looking for a formidable reporter based in Washington, DC, to get scoops and dig into the biggest stories at the intersection of healthcare policy, politics, business and power.

The future of healthcare and health policy is already taking shape, affected as much by AI and blockbuster drugs like GLP-1s as by the remaking of HHS and vaccine policy under Robert F. Kennedy Jr. With politics consistently veering back to partisan battles over Obamacare and Medicaid, the 2026 and 2028 election cycles will also take shape, in part, as rising healthcare and insurance costs bear down on voters who are increasingly aware they’re no longer aided by subsidies from Washington. 

This role encourages you to think big — following your sources to memorable scoops and stories — and affords you the opportunity to shape a new Semafor healthcare offering from the ground up. That includes anchoring a weekly newsletter and an annual healthcare event. 

In addition to getting scoops, we’ll expect you to contribute to our growing video offerings and write authoritative analysis and views that actually say something — smart, original analysis that helps a sophisticated audience of executives, investors, policymakers, and other decision makers understand what’s really happening and why it matters. You’ll cultivate deep sources on Capitol Hill, inside the White House, corporate boardrooms, and federal agencies to find stories no one else has and work closely with Semafor reporters and editors in DC and around the world to land them. 

Responsibilities

• Produce a regular cadence of scoops and definitive analytical pieces that set Semafor apart.
• Anchor a weekly healthcare newsletter and an annual healthcare event
• Build and maintain high-level sources across pharma, insurance, healthcare lobbies, Congress, the White House, and the political and regulatory ecosystem around health policy.
• Write agenda-setting stories that situate individual corporate or policy decisions in the larger context of capital accumulation, political polarization, and tech transformation
• Collaborate closely with Semafor journalists across business, finance, politics, and our international bureaus to produce breakout, cross-beat stories.
• Appear on TV, podcasts, and Semafor's marquee live journalism events, hosting on-the-record interviews with senior healthcare and political leaders.

What you bring

• At least five years of experience reporting on healthcare.
• A proven ability to blend insider knowledge with authoritative "what-it-means" analysis for a sophisticated audience.
• Someone who thinks beyond the story of the day—spotting the bigger themes, the quiet power shifts, and the regulatory or funding decisions that only make sense months later.
• A self-starter with experience in fast-moving, ambitious newsroom environments and the willingness to jump in wherever the team needs you.
• A contagious passion for news in all its forms, and a genuine obsession with where healthcare, business, policy, and power intersect.

Compensation

The base salary for this position ranges from $130,000 to $200,000. Individual compensation varies based on experience, qualifications, and scope of responsibility.

Additional job details

Semafor offers a Flexible Paid Time Off (PTO) policy to our full-time, salaried employees who may take paid time off as-needed without a prescribed limit or defined balance.

Semafor, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer and enthusiastically encourages people from all backgrounds and experiences to apply. Semafor, Inc. will consider all applicants without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical and/or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.