Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law

Don't you ever wish your favorite journal articles could talk to you? (No, just me?!)

Well, I'm thrilled that @jhppl.bsky.social has launched a new author interview series. Take a listen to @neillewisjr.bsky.social in conversation with @mirandayaver.bsky.social and @mshepruralpolitics.bsky.social.

Public Health has been under siege this year, which has been demoralizing. That said, I do think this is an important time to keep dreaming about (and mobilizing) to create a better future. In this conversation (and article behind it), I talked about lessons from the past that are useful now.

Interview with Neil Lewis, Health policy professors Michael Shepherd (University of Michigan) and Miranda Yaver (University of Pittsburgh) interview Professor Neil Lewis (Cornell University) about his forthcoming article in the

JHPPL is on Soundcloud! Please enjoy our first author interview, in which @mshepruralpolitics.bsky.social and @mirandayaver.bsky.social interview @neillewisjr.bsky.social about his recent contribution to the Public Health Under Siege special issue.
soundcloud.com/user-1083235...

Today in @jhppl.bsky.social, we show that few Americans express strong concern about H5N1 health risks.

That's a problem, because public apathy may impede an already-sluggish policy response to a potential pandemic (as @propublica.org documented this week).

read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

We are accepting submissions for two special issues!

1. Political economy of health reform in low- and middle-income countries - submissions due 1/9 assets-us-01.kc-usercontent.com/f7ca9afb-82c...
2. The politics of private health insurance - due 2/1 assets-us-01.kc-usercontent.com/f7ca9afb-82c...

The Dog That Almost Barked: What the ACA Repeal Fight Says about the Resilience of the American Welfare State Abstract. The 2017 GOP drive to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act (ACA) arguably constituted the most ambitious effort to dismantle a social program in American history. Certainly it was th...

See also @jacobhacker.bsky.social & Paul Pierson's 2018 JHPPL article "The Dog That Almost Barked: What the ACA Repeal Fight Says about the Resilience of the American Welfare State." In these unprecedented times, offers needed context on health policy retrenchment read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

Amid rising ACA premiums sans enhanced subsidies, we're seeing new discourse concerning an alternative. The last time Republicans worked to repeal ACA, Colleen Grogan wrote in JHPPL this analysis of some of the implications of ACA repeal (worse health inequity. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

For broader context on the politics of childhood vaccination, read this 2024 JHPPL article "Policy Feedback and the Politics of Childhood Vaccine Mandates," in which Katie Attwell et al. examined personal belief exemptions to vaccine requirements in California.
read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

As we look ahead to SNAP benefits not being administered on November 1, it's a good time to read Mohammed Abba-Aji and Sandro Galea's recent article on the health impact of Administration cuts to non-health structures including related to food assistance. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

Cover of Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, Volume 50, Number 6, December 2025. The special issue is titled JHPPL at 50. The design features a simple gradient background transitioning from dark to light brown, with white and dark brown text aligned to the right and a small tan square accent near the center.

"JHPPL at 50," a special anniversary issue of @jhppl.bsky.social, is now available. Featuring articles on US health care policy, LGBTQ+ health, abortion, guns, and illicit drug policy. View the full TOC: buff.ly/8V8grhf

Buy this issue for 50% off: buff.ly/omE0BOr

Excited to see this published as part of @jhppl.bsky.social's 50th anniversary edition! The balance between the role of the government and the private sector even in traditionally public programs has continued to evolve in ways which may become even more important in the future.

That's a wrap on our 50th anniversary issue! Hope we've piqued your curiosity enough that you'll give this superb issue a read, and give us a follow to stay apprised of ongoing developments!

@thcallaghan.bsky.social & @mattmotta.bsky.social evaluate the challenge that polarization poses for our health and importantly, they propose a three-pronged path for better understanding and overcoming polarization in health and medicine. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

The Public and Health (Mis)information: What Polling Tells Us About Where We Have Been and Where We Might Be Going Abstract. In 2021, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory calling health misinformation a serious threat to public health and urging all Americans to help slow its spread. The public appea...

@lizhamel.bsky.social Alex Montero & @mollybrodie.bsky.social assess the public health threat of misinformation, drawing on over 30 years of polling to evaluate how the public accesses, evaluates & uses health information (and disinformation) and shifts over time. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

@joefigs.bsky.social Ciara Duggan & Karen Joynt Maddox examine the challenges and opportunities in value-based payment within Medicare. They evaluate 4 main value-based care paradigms & argue there's been mixed success in improving wrt cost and quality. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

@rachelwerner.bsky.social Allison Hoffman & R. Tamara Konetzka assess the changing landscape of long-term care delivery, identifying the limitations of reliance on Medicare & Medicaid, with unpaid caregivers often filling in the gaps--> fragmentation, inadequacy. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

@rachelsachs.bsky.social & Allison Hoffman examine the government's changing role in health law, with expanding role of the private sector in public insurance & enactment of ACA. They argue that the government's regulatory power may be constrained moving forward. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

Brendan Saloner, Sachini Bandara & Alene Kennedy-Hendricks examine the last 50 years of illicit drug policy. Since the inception of the "war on drugs," they observe most drug policy remains a patchwork that hasn't changed much despite changing conditions. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

Caitlin McMurtry examines politics surrounding gun control given landmark SCOTUS rulings as well as shifts in the public's distrust of government, institutions, and one another. This distrust implicates the impact of framing gun violence as a public health problem read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

Arturo Bustamante, Alexandra Rivera-Gonzales, Clara Barajas, Maria-Elena Young & Alexander Ortega examine shifting policy landscapes of health ins for non-citizens, esp since implementation of the PRWORA. They trace non-citizens' health ins enrollment from 2008-23 read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

Marian Jarlenski examines the upending of abortion politics and where to go from here. With Dobbs v. Jackson, we saw profound shifts in jurisprudence as well as the implementation of state abortion laws, highlighting the important role of health federalism. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

Kevin Nguyen, Leesh Menard, @prof-heidiallen.bsky.social & Gilbert Gonzales examine the changing landscape of LGBTQ health politics/policy, including developments in LGBTQ health data collection & research, and the role of developments like marriage equality & ACA read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

@oberlanderunc.bsky.social writes not just on persistence of US health care problems like cost, fragmentation, & inequity, but how these enduring features mask broader shifts in health coverage expansion & privatization in public programs, & what these shifts mean read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

@sarahgollust.bsky.social Yujin Kim, Paul Espinoza Kissell & @efranklinfowler.bsky.social employ large-scale computational text tools to analyze the breadth of what JHPPL has published over the years (most common: health care access & insurance). read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

We at JHPPL are now 50! (So much for getting to stay 49 again...) Our former editor @oberlanderunc.bsky.social & new editor @sarahgollust.bsky.social trace our interdisciplinary origins & the many health politics/policy/law challenges we've faced the last 50 yrs. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

Thorough and important coverage on Medicaid estate recovery, a policy that continues to be understudied, misunderstood, and deeply harmful to families. Behind every bad policy is somehow always, disturbingly, private equity. Follow up this article with our recent MER paper in @jhppl.bsky.social

This special issue of @jhppl.bsky.social is a must-read. 👀 See why, in this thread:

Jonathan Leider, Mac McCullough, Jason Orr & Beth Resnick analyze recent reductions in public health funding and these cuts' disproportionate impact on rural and low-resource communities. While some communities will be able to offset losses, many will not. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

Sam Halabi, Lawrence Gostin, Kayla Wontumi, John Kraemer & Anjola Tega examines politicization of science & health institutions, observing weakening of regulation and dissemination of false & misleading information about scientific knowledge, eroding credibility. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

Mohammad Abba-Aji & Sandro Galea apply the social determinants of health framework to examine the many non-health agency cuts being implemented & affecting health, highlighting systemic threats to the broader policy infrastructure that promotes population health. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...