Health Care / Medicaid

Featured Fellow

Fellow Harold Pollack

Fellow Harold Pollack focuses on issues of Economics and Inequality. He is the Helen Ross Professor at the School of Social Service Administration, and faculty chair of the Center for Health Administration Studies at the University of Chicago.

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• Blog Post: Expanding Medicaid Saved Lives
  No matter how many times we refute the idea that Medicaid is bad for health, people keep on saying it. There’s so much evidence to the contrary. Recently, a number of states have used the “questionable” quality of Medicaid to buttress their arguments against the Medicaid expansion contained in the Affordable Care Act.
  Jul 26, 2012
• Blog Post: Court Action Is Necessary to Maintain Medicaid’s Integrity
  Should private citizens be allowed to sue their state Medicaid programs for imposing rate cuts on doctors and other providers? That’s the...
  Oct 6, 2011
• Blog Post: Obama’s Plan and Medicaid: Promising Structural Changes but Worries about Cost-Shifting to States
  In President Obama’s new deficit reduction plan , he makes the following promise:
  Sep 20, 2011
• Commentary: The Snapshot: Hands Off Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid!
  The Snapshot by Ruy Teixeira.
  Jul 11, 2011
• In The News: The State of the States in Developmental Disabilities: It's Not Good, Especially in Red States
  Harold Pollack published in The New Republic.
  Jun 23, 2011
• In The News: The Real Impact Of Cutting Medicaid: Just When We Need It The Most
  Harold Pollack published in Kaiser Health News.
  May 6, 2011
• In The News: Our Flawed but Beneficial Medicaid Program
  Harold Pollack contributes to piece in the New England Journal of Medicine.
  Apr 7, 2011
• In The News: Blocked Off
  In trying to duck their Medicaid responsibilities, Republican governors could be rushing into disaster, writes Harold Pollack in The New Republic.
  Apr 1, 2011
• In The News: New to Taking Note
  Harold Pollack and Avik Roy debate health outcomes, Medicaid, and welfare dependency. 
  Mar 7, 2011
• In The News: Barbour on Medicaid
  Harold Pollack published in The American Prospect.
  Mar 2, 2011
• Book: The Next Priority for Health Care: Federalize Medicaid
  Greg Anrig argues that the next major medical care reforms should fully federalize Medicaid, which would relieve states’ financial burdens and enhance the health of the American population
  Sep 15, 2010
• Video: Business and National Health Care Reform: 1st Session Discussion Video
  Session One of the "Business and National Health Care Reform" conference, "The Future of Employment-Based Health Insurance."
  Jul 29, 2010
• Video: Business and National Health Care Reform: Michael Critelli Video
  Session One of the "Business and National Health Care Reform" conference, "The Future of Employment-Based Health Insurance."
  Jul 29, 2010
• Commentary: Medicaid Needs More Than A Short-term Fix
  Health reform may be stalled in Congress, but you need only look to the overburdened Medicaid program to find evidence of the continued toll the current economic crisis is taking on Americans’ ability to afford and access medical care. At the same time that states are experiencing huge budget deficits, more and more of their residents are unemployed; more and more are joining the ranks of the uninsured and clamoring for Medicaid benefits.
  Feb 1, 2010
• Commentary: A Foot in the Door Toward Federalizing Medicaid
  One encouraging element of the health care reform bill released today by three House committees is that it would finance expanded eligibility for Medicaid entirely with federal money. Since its inception in 1965, Medicaid’s financing has been shared jointly between the feds and state governments. That arrangement has much to do with Medicaid’s huge shortcomings: wide state-to-state variations in eligibility rules and benefit levels, chronic under-funding, and limited medical options for beneficiaries. Because the program primarily covers individuals with low incomes, along with nursing home residents, it has never benefited from broad political support.
  Jul 14, 2009
• Commentary: Thinking About Dr. Atul Gawande’s Congressional Testimony Part 1: Why Health Care Reform Will Require Additional Spending
  Some of President Obama’s critics have expressed disappointment with his plans for healthcare reform. Why is the president raising taxes to sink more money into an already bloated healthcare system? Why isn’t he doing more to cut wasteful healthcare spending?
  Mar 11, 2009
• Commentary: The Amenities Race: Are Patients Irrational?
  According to a new working paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), as the nation's hospitals battle for paying customers, they are engaged in a fierce "amenities race." What is troubling about the report is that it reveals that many patients seem to care more about rooms with views and pleasant service than just how many patients survive their hospital stays.
  Jan 27, 2009
• Commentary: The Medicaid Challenge (Part 1)
  In theory, Medicaid ensures that low-income families receive health care. But in practice, the program leaves much to be desired—and serves as a painful illustration that the existence of an insurance program isn’t enough to ensure access to necessary care.
  Oct 8, 2008
• Commentary: Medicare Bill Could Lead to Tougher Hospital Inspections
  Reel back to 1965, the year Medicare and Medicaid legislation was passed. That year Congress gave the “Joint Commission,” a professional accreditation organization established in 1951, the unique authority to inspect hospitals and determine whether they meet the patient health and safety standards required to treat Medicare patients.
  Aug 4, 2008
• Commentary: How Much Do We Spend on Nursing Homes?
  We know that as a nation, we invest well over $2 trillion each year in healthcare. But where exactly do our health care dollars go? Where are they well-spent and where are they wasted?
  Jun 16, 2008