Harold Pollack

By Harold Pollack Thanks for the hospitality, Ezra. Thanks, especially, to the commenters for great observations and corrections. The combination of anonymity, spontaneity, and immaturity render many comment threads a depressing and toxic brew. Not here. I’m grateful that readers here care about public health, not merely healthcare delivery. One final Polonius-like note: For the […]

Richard Besser has the conventional good looks of a TV anchorman. That’s a useful qualification for public office. Fortunately, that is not what got him appointed Acting Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. I’m pretty happy about this pick, which hasn’t gotten the attention or visibility it deserves. As I have written […]

By Harold Pollack What a different elections make. Less than two weeks into things, the Obama administration and congressional Democrats can just about chalk another victory on the board. In case you aren’t up on current events, the Senate passed SCHIP yesterday. The bill would cover an additional four million children. Since the House passed […]

By Harold Pollack Tuesday’s New York Times includes a nice story “The epidemic that wasn’t” recounting the crack baby scare of two decades ago. Quoting distinguished experts such as Brown University’s Barry Lester and Boston University’s Deborah Frank, Times reporter Susan Okie recounts that sorry history, in which real medical uncertainty, media sensationalism, and the […]

By Harold Pollack I’m charged this week to tackle public health. I’m cheating a bit to venture into other health reform issues. Dean Baker over at TPMcafe suggested that the feds abolish the current 2-year waiting period for disabled people to receive Medicare. This is a pet issue of mine. I want to second him […]

by Harold Pollack The current stimulus package includes some funds for family planning services provided to Medicaid recipients. Republicans are predictably upset, and the Obama administration may decide to pull this provision. Lindsey Beyerstein has a nice little article over at the Washington Independent recounting the dispute. Family planning is no pork barrel item. By […]

by Harold Pollack And he drank of the wine, and was drunken, and he was uncovered within his tent. Ham saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren who were without. And Shem and Japeth took a garment, and laid it out upon both their shoulders, and went backward, covered the nakedness […]

by Harold Pollack If you are serious about Illinois public policy, progressillinois is an essential source. Hat’s-off to Josh Kalven for today’s story on overcrowding at Cook County Jail. While we are at it, hat’s-off to Alderwoman Toni Preckwinkle for raising this issue on television this morning. It’s heartening that local elected politicians are willing […]

By Harold Pollack It’s a pleasure to guest again. I am a public health researcher at the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration, where I am faculty chair of the Center for Health Administration Studies. The Obama team has been rightly tight-lipped about the internal mechanics of its campaign victory. I hope the […]