Passover is such a poignant experience. As we answer the four questions, my mind always wanders to various empty seats at the family Seder table.

The launch of my book Coverage Denied (out 4/23) will be at the White Whale Bookstore on 4/28. If you're in Pittsburgh, register to attend here: www.eventbrite.com/e/book-launc... And if you're not local, you can register for the livestream! us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi... Hope you can make it!

I've read w/interest the dialogue on this I'm partly motivated by fairness: Pricey conferences are out of reach for colleagues whose research is better than mine. It's partly my belief in frugality+restraint in life when ppl close to me live in modest circumstances. We don't need middle-class bling

The highlight of my week: strolling the Art Institute of Chicago with @citizencohn.bsky.social

I am actually curious if tighter budgets will start shifting some of this behavior. I imagine it will

Uhhh... yeah. Those of us slumming it in non-R1 academia are sharing rooms and paying out of pocket. Have been for years.

Just imagine the people who are NOT at the conference b/c they can't afford to do any of that!

Thank you so much but I'm afraid [Political Supervillain du jour] doesn't have 401(k) matches for protesters. But the good news is that Roth IRA contribution limits are now $7500 ($8500 for graying protesters)... unless they're getting too much income from Etsy merch with subversive messages.

Pet peeve: un-self-aware academic junket culture. We spend $2000 to attend conferences where 75% of speakers rail against American inequality, while we splurge on $75 dinners, stay in $300/night hotel rooms, and take a $50 uber ride to avoid a 3-stop subway ride that would cost $2.50.

Great interview

As a service for paid No Kings protesters, I'm reposting this 2017 financial advice column. For those who believe this column is a joke--it's actually got some good advice. www.huffpost.com/entry/hey-pa...

I love Hebews 12;1. Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us throw aside every unnecessary weight and sin which so easily entangle us, and let us run with persistence the race that is set before us.

Of course Iran's regine is terrible. Still--This business of killing foreign leaders may not end well. Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return to plague the inventor.

My latest personal reflections for @milbankfund.bsky.social: Engaging the Victim’s Voice in Public Safety Research. www.milbank.org/quarterly/op...

Excited to announce publication of new JHPPL special issue: Public Health Under Siege (ungated) that explores the fate of public health during the second Trump administration: read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/issue/...

I came across this video of my 2004 performance at the University of Chicago Hillel Latke-Hamantash Debate youtu.be/rFcPnVCZDtA?... I can't believe that was almost 22 years ago.

Watching USA-Canada hockey, preparing to take my dog out in a cold Feb day, my mind drifts back 48yrs,to watching my friend Andre play junior hockey before delivering afternoon Rochester Times Union papers together. Andre--You are deeply missed.

Why Bruce Springsteen's Music Matters Now More than Ever open.substack.com/pub/miranday...

Reading Five Bullets about subway shooter Bernard Goetz. An irony of my life is my strong resemblance to Goetz. I was sometimes mistaken for him in late-1980s NY. I had also been mugged. Contemplating his motives for perpetrating an atrocity, I'm reminded of the wise adage: Hurt people hurt people.

He Called Me ‘Doc.’ I Called Him ‘Rev.’ Remembering Jesse Jackson’s Moral Leadership msmagazine.com/2026/02/17/j...

I was just reviewing this publication by my colleague Aimee Hilado describing the Reimagining Mental Health Supports for Migrants intervention. Quite an accomplishment that helped so many people. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40719157/

I would think this is a Waiver/State specific question. I’m most familiar with NC…this might fit into the Community Navigator service definition, if the counseling was provided to the beneficiary (caregiver could also attend). But it’d need to be part of a care plan, etc.

Link for the NC 1915(c) Innovations Waiver service definitions: medicaid.ncdhhs.gov/8p/open

Tell your students! @haroldpollack.bsky.social @prof-heidiallen.bsky.social @anne-m-burton.bsky.social @tderyugina.bsky.social @martin-andersen.bsky.social @atheendar.bsky.social @martingaynor.bsky.social @shooshan.bsky.social @profgenkanter.bsky.social @vinisingh.bsky.social @aschwartz.bsky.social

Neil Young really should have won the Oscar for Philadelphia. I still tear up when I hear that song played.

Query for followers familiar with Medicaid 1915(c) IDD waivers: If a social worker/other provider holds a counseling session to assist an older-adult caregiver with caregiver/guardianship transition issues, is this a reimbursable service?

An irony of my life is my physical resemblance to subway vigilante Bernard Goetz. I was sometimes confused for him in late-1980s NY. Pondering the new book about the case, I'm reminded once again: Hurt people hurt people.

State-year-level Data Distress Call over the period 2000-2022: Do any followers have data for (a) naloxone access law; (b) the presence of PDMP; (c) HCV prevalence? A bird photography mug is on offer here....

My commentary in JAMA Network Open: The continuing partisan divide in the opioid epidemic. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

On the Cumulative Power of Human Ingenuity open.substack.com/pub/arthurgo...

At Goldhammer brings it.... arthurgoldhammer356783.substack.com/p/donalds-de...

Mitt romney, making sense || www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...

Thomas Statchen @haroldpollack.bsky.social Amanda Abraham, Christina Andrews, and Colleen Grogan examine Section 1115 waivers concerning substance use disorder. They examine the timeline of waiver reform and assess how well the SUD waivers are working. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

Today I cancelled my stepmom's Sunday NYT subscription, officially in my dad's name, I've been renewing that for 20yrs. At 94, my stepmom no longer reads the paper. The holidays can be a bittersweet time. We note the empty seats at the table, and we see so many other realities of human aging.

Medicaid waivers to address health-related social needs (HRSN) are under threat due to federal spending cuts, guidance rescinding HRSN language, and executive orders criminalizing homelessness, says @haroldpollack.bsky.social in a new Milbank Quarterly Opinion.

Prooreading posts is apparently for the little peop3le......

Concerning esults reported by Nagler et al: 59% of Americans are neutral/display some degree of support for cutting funds for work that "provides the foundational knowledge about how the natural world works, which might lead to future discoveries about human health www.milbank.org/quarterly/op...

My most recent column in Milbank Quarterly Opinion. Medicaid’s Essential Investments to Address Health-Related Social Needs www.milbank.org/quarterly/op...

Listening to a podcast where Jon Stewart is saying that the ACA is just subsidies to insurance companies. That’s akin to saying that SNAP is just subsidies to supermarkets.

Racing to my train today, I pulled over halfway there with an "oh-f***k" realization: I forgot my phone. Just then, I looked up to see @veppol.bsky.social pull up behind, the phone in hand. Those of us blessed in this life to have folk who have our backs need to earn this out.

Let's talk about the grotesque Führerprinzip sweeping Republican institutions. With receipts. This is one of my favorite documents from the Reagan Library: a White Paper prepared for him that led up to one of the ideas he was most impassioned about, a "North American Free Trade Area."... 1/x

The Real Patriots Will Be Marching Saturday—<i>Against</i> the un-Americans newrepublic.com/post/201921/... via @newrepublic.com

Any followers happen to have at hand recent life tables for Black men in U.S. Urban settings? An authentic Pollack Bird Photography Mug on offer for this....

Yet another attempt to share our piece on neuropsychiatric disorders among emergency department patients with intellectual and developmental disorders..... I"m struck by the prevalent early-onset dementia among patients w/Down syndrome. This graph speaks for itself.… link.growkudos.com/1f3s851ezgg

Beth McGinty and Magdalena Cerda in Milbank Quarterly-- Medicaid Cuts Will Heighten the US Mental Health and Substance Use Crisis www.milbank.org/quarterly/op...

Went to a real gym for the first time in a long while. I turned out to be rusty and complacent in the sparring and physical combat dept. Came away with some impressive bruises in various places from hard contact and a dramatic taikedown. I had just forgotten how tough those treadmills can be .

80 Years Ago, A Jewish Radical and Two Negro League Stars Led a Crusade to Integrate Baseball That Paved the Way for Jackie Robinson www.commondreams.org/opinion/80-y...

All articles are freely available now, so check them out. There's still time to add them to your fall syllabi!

Finally there are two book reviews that are especially timely: Ann Keller's review of Pamuk's "Politics and Expertise: How to Use Science in a Democratic Society" and Robert Ostergard's review of Dahl's "The COVID-19 Intelligence Failure: Why Warning Was Not Enough"

In the Tracking Health Reform section, Gusmano and Thompson analyze the Biden administration's efforts to minimize losses of Medicaid enrollment during the "great unwinding". read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...