Luke Farrell
@lukef.bsky.social
Building for working people in @NYC | Solved crises @WhiteHouse @USDS 🚀 writing about it occasionally itslukefarrell.substack.com
LETS GOOO 🏎️🏁 Thrilled to be leading this team and excited for the hard work ahead! nyc.gov/pitcrew
PIT Crew
nyc.gov
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani@mayor.nyc.gov · 3w agoEvery confusing city website and dead-end government portal makes New Yorkers trust their leaders less and less. It's time for City government to enter the 21st century.
We’ve got big plans for NYC! Mayor Mamdani is serious about delivering on affordability and the PIT Crew is the team that will help get it done 🏎️🏁
Proud of our team that hustled on this so every New Yorker could watch the biggest comeback in final history all over the city for free Knicks in 5 🫡
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani@mayor.nyc.gov · 2mo agoWhen James Dolan cancels the watch party outside MSG, we bring the watch party to you. Thanks to the @nba.com, Knicks Game 4 is now playing on dozens of LinkNYC screens across our city. LGK.
When James Dolan cancels the watch party outside MSG, we bring the watch party to you. Thanks to the @nba.com, Knicks Game 4 is now playing on dozens of LinkNYC screens across our city. LGK.
Young people are always told what not to do. But what should you do? Did you know that most public libraries have a Nintendo Switch to use? That parks show free movies at night? That there's a map of pickup basketball games?
If only there was a website with all the info parents need to find child care in New York City, including a map with every licensed provider in each neighborhood… Oh wait! Now there is: nyc.gov/childcare
Ever wonder how to get rid of a mattress? Or how to find resources for a neighbor in need? Call 311. 311 is contacted 100,000 times every day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. No call is too small. So on the anniversary of 311 (3/11), I decided to answer some of those calls myself.
Every day, we're pursuing small changes that make a huge difference: like building a map of licensed childcare providers in New York City at @ nyc.gov/childcare.
Building a robust social safety net, including public childcare, requires universality and free access at the point of use. We must move beyond what @lukef.bsky.social calls the “neoliberal obsession with complex and federated means-testing that creates the opportunity for corporate capture.”
From Safety Net to Power Base: Reimagining, Not Restoring, the US Antipoverty System
A new report from Jamie Keene revisits the New Deal’s approach to social programs, market regulation, and public options, and why reimagining them matters for working families today.
rooseveltinstitute.org
Stephen Nuñez@socio-steve.bsky.social · 4mo agoThe concept of "universal benefit for all; taxes on the back end" continues to elude people. This is just "should bill gates get a basic income?!!!" again as if the man wouldn't be a net payer come tax time.
There are a lot of smart implementation people gravitating to the Mamdani administration right now. For example, @lukef.bsky.social, who wrote this piece, is the leading government delivery innovation for NYC now. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-means-...
The Means-Testing Industrial Complex
The vendors getting rich from putting administrative burdens on the poor
donmoynihan.substack.com
Awesome interview with Luke Farrell @lukef.bsky.social on the Complex Systems podcast. "Understanding government procurement" How do we get @patio11 in here? www.complexsystemspodcast.com/episodes/und...
Understanding government procurement, with Luke Farrell
The high cost of "standard" government software
complexsystemspodcast.com
Worth remembering that current Republican Senator Rick Scott oversaw the largest Medicaid fraud in history, at the time, as the CEO of the largest for-profit hospital system in America.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 5mo agoJD Vance: "We're announcing today that we have decided to temporarily halt certain amounts of Medicaid funding that is going to the state of Minnesota in order to ensure that the state of Minnesota takes its obligations seriously to be good stewards of the American people's tax money."
All my homies hate a price gouging data broker preying on America’s safety net!
The New York Times@nytimes.com · 6mo agoThree Democratic senators accused the credit-rating company Equifax of price gouging states for a service many will use to comply with the new work requirements for Medicaid and food assistance passed by Republicans in Congress last year.
This Equifax takedown letter from Senators Warren, Wyden, and Sanders is encouraging, but it's insane we need Senators to demand public price transparency from a contractor that works for the public
Deloitte is a $74B cancer on American government is an accurate diagnosis, but MAGA is constitutionally incapable of solving this problem. Government inefficiency, privatization, and grift *is* their political project.
Parker Molloy@parkermolloy.com · 6mo agoSo over on Twitter, they did a "$1 million article contest." This is the guy who won the million dollar prize: (1/2)
The week in review: Edie Conekin-Tooze on hidden foster care as neoliberal family governance, an open letter from seventy-two UMN law faculty, and @lukef.bsky.social on the means-testing industrial complex. Plus, as always, the best of LPE from around the web 🧵👇
Weekly Roundup: Jan 30
Edie Conekin-Tooze on hidden foster care as neoliberal family governance, an open letter from seventy-two UMN law faculty, and Luke Farrell on the means-testing industrial complex. Plus…
lpeproject.org
New at Can We Still Govern: Here is one thing I wish more people understood about government. There is a lot of rent-seeking by private vendors in our social safety net. Trump's policies will make this worse. @lukef.bsky.social breaks it down. 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-means-...
The Means-Testing Industrial Complex
The vendors getting rich from putting administrative burdens on the poor
donmoynihan.substack.com
Important thread: for a long time I have been waiting to see a clear critique of vendor influence over the safety net space. This maps out the political economy of vendor capture of safety net systems.
Luke Farrell@lukef.bsky.social · 6mo agoCorporations are extracting billions from America’s safety net and their payday is about to be supercharged by new rules. I lay out how programs like Medicaid have become vulnerable to corporate capture and what we need to build to stop it. @lpeblog.bsky.social lpeproject.org/blog/the-mea...
Today, Luke Farrell (@lukef.bsky.social) explains how complex eligibility requirements have turned America’s safety net into a lucrative revenue stream for monopolistic private contractors.
The Means-Testing Industrial Complex
As Republicans tightened work requirements and eligibility rules for Medicaid and SNAP last year, Equifax’s CEO openly celebrated the profits to be made from administering this deprivation.
lpeproject.org
Corporations are extracting billions from America’s safety net and their payday is about to be supercharged by new rules. I lay out how programs like Medicaid have become vulnerable to corporate capture and what we need to build to stop it. @lpeblog.bsky.social lpeproject.org/blog/the-mea...
The Means-Testing Industrial Complex
As Republicans tightened work requirements and eligibility rules for Medicaid and SNAP last year, Equifax’s CEO openly celebrated the profits to be made from administering this deprivation.
lpeproject.org
Today on Can We Still Govern, I got to share new research on how my team at USDS drove around the country in a van to protect Medicaid coverage for millions of Americans after the pandemic - and share some lessons learned for the coming crisis. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/how-a-van-...
Lessons from Pandemic Era Medicaid Automation for Work Requirements
Small tech capacity investments offer big returns
donmoynihan.substack.com
Full credit here to the incredible USDS team @lukef.bsky.social that worked closely with states to ensure so many Medicaid eligible low-income families and children didn't lose their health insurance coverage. Automation is a tool. Done well, it can work wonders.
Adrianna McIntyre@adrianna.bsky.social · 9mo agoCool new study from @pamherd.bsky.social, @giannella.bsky.social, @jbarofsky.bsky.social, @lukef.bsky.social, & @donmoyn.bsky.social finds technical assistance & capacity improvements from USDS significantly improved Medicaid renewal outcomes during unwinding www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/...
Also, if this continues we’re cooked 👇We can and must build alternatives that don’t rely on private data brokers.
New NYT investigation reveals how Equifax plans to profit from Medicaid work requirements. The dominance and price hiking uncovered would be alarming in any industry, but it's unconscionable when families' healthcare is at risk and tax payers are footing the bill. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/h...
‘A Big Positive’: How One Company Plans to Profit From Medicaid Cuts
nytimes.com
The public data that we all rely on is under attack, from economic statistics 📈 to weather data🌪️. So we are sharing stories every day about how essential public data is. Calling all data nerds to add your favorite dataset to the collection at essentialdata.us 🤓
America's Essential Data
Highlighting examples of how our essential public data serve the American people.
essentialdata.us
I got to share some reasons why Republicans’ Medicaid cuts are going to be a disaster for states with the New York Times this weekend 🗞️ www.nytimes.com/2025/06/28/u...
Why a G.O.P. Medicaid Requirement Could Set States Up for Failure
nytimes.com
The Republicans’ big bill would require most states to build technology systems quickly and with little funding. The result could be major failures in state systems affecting everyone on Medicaid. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/28/u...
Why a G.O.P. Medicaid Requirement Could Set States Up for Failure
nytimes.com
Today in the @missouriindependent.com I shared how new Medicaid red tape imposed by Republicans will kick over 10 million people off their healthcare, including more than 180,000 people in Missouri ‼️ missouriindependent.com/2025/06/06/r...
Republicans' new Medicaid red tape will push Missouri to the brink and block healthcare for millions • Missouri Independent
The budget bill passed by the U.S. House will kick millions of people off of Medicaid by piling on new red tape.
missouriindependent.com