Affordability of health care was the top-ranking economic concern among the public in February of this year, well before the expiration of enhanced ACA subsidies or looming changes to Medicaid were part of the public consciousness. www.pewresearch.org/politics/202...

This summer when my doctor said that the antibiotics I’d been taking weren’t doing the trick and I would need inpatient treatment, my first thought was, “Well gee, first let me do a little comparison-shopping. I wanna find a good bargain.“

Great upcoming (and all too timely, given current events) panel on Medicaid with authors from @jhppl.bsky.social special issue

This paper links Census records of *37.5 million* nonelderly adults to administrative records on Medicaid enrollment and death dates. Hugely impressive data feat to offer new and robust evidence on Medicaid saving lives.

How #Medicaid supports state economies, employment and state health workforces via @commonwealthfund.org: www.commonwealthfund.org/publications...

If the IRS deprives Harvard of its tax-exempt status, that's very bad for Harvard but it's also a catastrophe for the IRS. Instead of a neutral agency that enforces tax law, it will become a tool of partisan warfare. It may never recover.

As Congress considers changes to Medicaid as part of the budget debate, our latest poll finds relatively few adults say they want to see a reduction in Medicaid spending, with larger shares saying they want spending to stay about the same or increase. on.kff.org/43uvXb5

Evers, Pritzker, Walz and Whitmer: Midwestern governors reminding us what government *can* be.

“It’s a wonderful honor to begin my career as a researcher with the support of the Scholars Strategy Network,” said @traceesaunders.bsky.social on joining the Health Equity Scholars Program (HESP). Learn about her research findings on Medicaid enrollment barriers & HESP’s impact ⤵️

E&C committee was asked to cut $880 billion to make way for tax cuts. Latest paper from my @urbaninstitute.bsky.social colleagues on what would happen to insurance coverage if the 90 percent FMAP for the Medicaid expansion was eliminated. www.urban.org/research/pub...

New Urban Institute report on impact of cutting federal $ for #Medicaid expansion. If in place in 2026, states must increase their spending by $44b in that year (+26%) or drop expansion with 16m losing coverage. 3.4m would lose coverage right away due to trigger laws: www.urban.org/research/pub...

Did I mention that, between 1990-2020, rural hospital closures increasingly occurred in counties with high levels of income inequality as well? www.shepscenter.unc.edu/product/rura...

Very nice forthcoming APSR from Cox, Epp, and @mshepruralpolitics.bsky.social. Rural hospital closures reduced turnout nearby. We want people who experience social or economic hardship to speak up politically--but hardship reduces your voice. gated: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Excellent piece here by @pmheideman.bsky.social: jacobin.com/2025/02/trum...

Samuel Hammond argues that NSF should use AI to pick which proposals are funded—the NSF would only need 10% of its staff. This is not an Onion article.

New from me @thebulwark.bsky.social I explain why Trump's attack on university indirect rates is such a big deal, and how it represents one more example of an indifference to the rule of law. The "laws are just vibes" party is doing irreparable damage to America. substack.com/home/post/p-...

This is why crisis informatics, data science, GIS, and complex systems modeling is at risk: we create inconvenient truths for propagandists.

I just wrote the lecture slides for Tuesday's Administrative Burden & Inequality in U.S. Health Care class on the effect of the Arkansas Medicaid work requirement, and reading about the insane complexity of the reporting process makes me so insanely livid that they're coming back to screw people.

When I was a Hill staffer in 2009, a Dem trifecta was trying to pass universal healthcare. In response, Senate GOP released a memo detailing all of the tactics they in the minority could use to delay the effort as much as possible. I'm recirculating that 2009 GOP memo here. Take inspiration from it.

Fantastic bit of good news! Looks like NSF responded to the court order and funded grantees will be able to access already dedicated funds.

Quick reminder: a bureaucrat's likelihood to have the courage to disobey an unlawful or unconstitutional order is directly related to their expectation of being supported and protected. Democrats should be promising to support federal workers who report illegal orders or refuse to comply with them.

The executive branch does not have the legal right to cancel appropriated spending or eliminate agencies created by Congress. Trump and Musk are doing both. Entirely lawless and unconstitutional. The world's largest provider of food assistance shut down. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

I'm just a simple country public administration professor so maybe smarter people than me can explain if these options can't work and if others are better, but there is no strategy that involves waiting for something bigger than right now.

Just spitballing, but things that could happen today: *Court injunction protecting USAID *Dems demand hearings on Musk's role *Someone introduce articles of impeachment *Dem officeholders go to USAID offices with USAID workers *Refuse to conduct any more Senate confirmations until this is resolved

I’m feeling sick. BRFSS is one of the most basic public health survey datasets. There is no conceivable reason to take it down.

BRFSS walks the plank www.cdc.gov/brfss/data_d... www.cdc.gov/brfss/annual...

I will be speaking at this @scholars.org event on Feb 3. Join us! scholars.my.salesforce-sites.com/event/home/s...

What’s seen as bloat or bureaucracy is the undocumented processes, workarounds and institutional memory that make government function. It exists in human brains. Once lost it can’t be replaced. You can get contractors and let consultancies and agencies collect rent. Won’t fix anything. Or AI. Sure.

Great explainer and visuals that up-ends the narrative that Musk and Trump have established about the federal government