It’s been a while since I’ve posted here. Just today, a new article of mine was published in Politico Magazine — available by clicking here. Between now and the end of June, the US Supreme Court will rule on whether the entire Affordable Care Act should be overturned because of, once again, the mandate on […]
[This commentary was published by the Milbank Quarterly on June 24, 2020.] For some years I’ve pondered a Commonwealth Fund chart showing the growth in gross domestic product (GDP) for health care comparing the United States with 10 other high income nations, starting in 1980 and ending in 2018. It shows that 40 years ago, […]
I wrote this article for the Journal of Health Policy, Politics and Law for their special edition on the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act. You can access the full PDF by clicking here. You can view the full Table of Contents of the issue by clicking here. And here’s my […]
If Democrats can further advance toward near-universal coverage without the life-or-death struggles of Medicare for All, they just might achieve meaningful and historic progress even as they preserve political capital to make progress on other compelling and urgent policy needs.
I haven’t had as much time to write as I would like because of other commitments. One of those commitments has been working on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Culture of Health program as it relates to the U.S. business community. That experience has deepened my interest in the corporate role in the health care […]
[Commonwealth Magazine published this analysis and commentary on May 4 2019.] Many Bay State health care cognoscenti and politicos like to brag about Massachusetts health statistics. For years now, Massachusetts has performed well, at or near the top, in surveys of key health indicators among the 50 US states. For example, the United Health Foundation’s […]
[I wrote this new commentary, “Case Studies in Medicare for All,” for the Milbank Quarterly.] George Santayana’s famous quote—“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”—comes to mind when considering prospects for a “Medicare for All” or single-payer health system revolution. There is history here demanding attention that goes beyond President Harry […]
This post appeared in the Health Affairs Blog on March 29, 2019: “The Fairness Project: A New Kid on the Block’s Role in Voter Driven Medicaid Expansions.” One surprising outcome from the November 2018 mid-term elections was voter approval of ballot initiatives expanding Medicaid coverage in Idaho, Nebraska, and Utah. These victories were preceded by […]
[The Milbank Quarterly just published this new commentary that I wrote for their November 2018 edition.] Ever since the US Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that the expansion of Medicaid as required by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) must be optional rather than mandatory for states, health care advocates have worked heart and soul to […]
John E. McDonough affords a rare glimpse into the practice of state politics in this insider’s account of the fascinating interface between political science and real-life politics. A member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives for thirteen years and a skilled storyteller, McDonough eloquently weaves together stories of politics and policy with engaging theoretical models in a way that illuminates both the theory and the practice. By providing a link between scholarship and the world of experience, he communicates much about the essence of representative democracy. In the process, he demonstrates how politics extend beyond the public sphere into many aspects of life involving diverse values and interests.
Health Stew 