Tracee Saunders
@traceesaunders.bsky.social
Assistant Professor, Penn State Political Science | Poli Sci PhD | MS Health Informatics | health policy, bureaucracy, social inequality traceesaunders.com
We're headed towards the largest loss of health insurance coverage in US history. Along with millions losing Medicaid, Obamacare private plans are entering a death spiral--reduced federal subsidies pushed people out, and with falling enrollment, prices rise even higher www.wsj.com/health/healt...
Exclusive | Obamacare Insurers Seek Big Rate Hikes, Again
Affordable Care Act plans are citing rising healthcare costs and falling enrollment.
wsj.com
I’m excited to share that @ksavin.bsky.social, @calliefreitag.bsky.social, and I have a new piece out summarizing our research on how the Trump admin’s attack on the public sector have made it harder to get and maintain disability benefits—which were already quite difficult to navigate.
Getting disability benefits got harder after the Social Security Administration’s staff was slashed and program rules were changed by Trump
Researchers learned from dozens of interviews that the usual ways of resolving complex cases, escalating issues and holding the authorities accountable no longer work.
theconversation.com
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.“
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 8mo agoRoger Marshall: "We want patients to become consumers again. We want patients to see what the actual prices are. We believe that if we would add the price tags to this bill, that it would save the country a trillion dollars a year."
Great upcoming (and all too timely, given current events) panel on Medicaid with authors from @jhppl.bsky.social special issue
Eric Patashnik@ericpatashnik.bsky.social · last yr.#Medicaid covers about one in five people nationwide. Join @RWJF and @JHPPL on June 12 @ 3 p.m. ET as we discuss the program’s legacy and future. Speakers include @povertyscholar.bsky.social Andrea Campbell, David Adler and me. Register: bit.ly/4dsIsXR
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.
William Schpero@wschpero.bsky.social · last yr.Important, timely new findings on the effects of Medicaid expansion under the ACA from Wyse and Meyer (Dartmouth): 1. *Lives saved*: 21% reduction in the mortality hazard of new enrollees. 2. *Cost-effective*: $179,000 per life-year saved. Read more: www.nber.org/papers/w33719
How #Medicaid supports state economies, employment and state health workforces via @commonwealthfund.org: www.commonwealthfund.org/publications...
How Does Medicaid Benefit States?
Medicaid provides critical health care to Americans with low income and generates a powerful return on investment for all states.
commonwealthfund.org
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.
Spud Lovr@spudlovr.bsky.social · last yr.Gov. Evers: “I Want Wisconsin to Become the First State in America to Start Auditing Insurance Companies over Denying Healthcare Claims.” urbanmilwaukee.com/p... #wiunion #wipolitics
“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 ⤵️
Saunders named as 2024-25 cohort member of the Health Equity Scholars Program | Penn State University
Tracee Saunders, assistant professor of political science and Social Science Research Institute co-funded faculty member, was announced in fall 2024 as a member of the 2024-25 cohort of the Scholars…
buff.ly
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...
Reducing Federal Support for Medicaid Expansion Would Shift Costs to States and Likely Result in Coverage Losses
Leadership in the House of Representatives has proposed substantial federal funding cuts to the Medicaid program over the next 10 years. This report focuses on the proposal to reduce the 90 percent fe...
urban.org
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...
Since 1990, Rural Hospital Closures Have Increasingly Occurred in Counties that Are More Urbanized, Diverse, and Economically Unequal - Sheps Center
The NC Rural Health Research Program tracks and studies rural hospital closures. Our most recent brief, , describes the socio‐economic, demographic, and health system characteristics for rural countie...
shepscenter.unc.edu
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...
A Key Opportunity to Check Trump: Stopping Medicaid Cuts
Defeating the GOP’s proposed Medicaid cuts, which will then fund huge tax cuts for the rich, is an urgent priority. It’s a chance to reestablish the popularity of the welfare state in American politic...
jacobin.com
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.
Joel McGlothlin@joelmcglothlin.bsky.social · last yr.Attack #2 in Trump's war on science. We cannot let this stand. www.science.org/content/arti...
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-...
Under Trump, Laws Are Just Vibes
The administration’s dangerous attack on scientific funding is part of a pattern of illegality and abuse.
substack.com
This is why crisis informatics, data science, GIS, and complex systems modeling is at risk: we create inconvenient truths for propagandists.
Jess Calarco@jessicacalarco.com · last yr.This is why they're attacking science and education: if you can only win with disinformation, data become a threat.
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.
Jonathan Lambert@jonlambert.bsky.social · 2y agoNSF’s cash management service is now back up and running. Seems like they responded to the court order. new.nsf.gov/executive-or...
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 went over it with him in detail, and he agreed that we should shut it down,” Musk said. “And I actually checked with him a few times [and] said ‘are you sure?’”
The answer was yes, he said.
“And so we’re shutting it down,” Musk said.
USAID staffers were told that the agency’s headquarters in Washington will be closed Monday amid the turmoil.
In an email to staff early Monday, the agency’s leadership said: “Agency personnel normally assigned to work at USAID headquarters will work remotely … with the exception of personnel with essential on-site and building maintenance functions individually contacted by senior leadership.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2rrp7amblhg3xoly5n5huiqv/bafkreihfrxbqqzx6xoeoudgfglj52il2ts26n2dkmxhq6ulwdbt7thegzy)
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.
a man in a suit and tie says i 'm telling you ...
ALT: a man in a suit and tie says i 'm telling you ...
media.tenor.com
Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social · 2y agoJust 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
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.
I will be speaking at this @scholars.org event on Feb 3. Join us! scholars.my.salesforce-sites.com/event/home/s...
