Peterson on Threats to Medicaid Funding

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Mark A. Peterson, professor of public policy at UCLA Luskin, commented in a Los Angeles Times story on a Republican-backed congressional budget resolution that could result in cuts to Medicaid as well as Medicare and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The story focuses on California Republican Congressman David Valadao, representing the 22nd Congressional District, who supported his party on the cost-cutting resolution but said he would not support a final reconciliation bill that risks leaving his constituents behind. Republicans say the resolution will eventually provide $2 trillion in savings, while the Congressional Budget Office reported that it would be impossible to find enough savings not to impact those health programs. “Medicaid is the only place — it’s like the bank, it’s where the money is,” said Peterson, who also holds appointments in political science, health policy, management and law at UCLA. “He’s going to have a problem,” Peterson said of Valadao.

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Peterson on the Struggle to Provide Mental Health Care

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Mark A. Peterson, professor of public policy at UCLA Luskin, commented in a California Healthline article about problems state health care providers are experiencing in delivering adequate mental health care to their patients. The article focuses on Kaiser Permanente but notes that the state’s largest commercial health care plan is not alone among health plans experiencing a shortage of health care workers coupled with preexisting scarcity. Other problems include therapists declining to contract with insurers and a persistent bias in the health care system against mental health services and patients. Peterson, a senior fellow at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, with appointments in political science, health policy and management, and law, said that the “open-ended nature of therapy” can be in conflict with health care plans’ focus on their bottom lines. For insurers, Peterson said, the question is, “How do you put an appropriate limit on that?”

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Peterson on Move to Freeze Federal Spending

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Mark A. Peterson, professor of public policy at UCLA Luskin, commented in a Los Angeles Times article on a Trump administration memo ordering a halt to an array of federal financial aid and spending programs. A federal judge blocked the order, finding that it could potentially cause “irreparable harm” to Americans, and several states and nonprofits launched challenges. Subsequently, the administration revoked the directive. The original memo was without precedent and left “extreme ambiguity as to what it affects and how it applies,” or how long it applies, said Peterson, a senior fellow at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research who also holds appointments in political science, health policy and management, and law. “Anything that has … the aroma of dealing with equity or inclusion issues could be put under threat,” Peterson said, adding, “there’s so much misunderstanding about what those issues are.”

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How California Health Programs Could Change Under Trump

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UCLA’s Mark A. Peterson appeared on KQED’s “Forum” to talk about what could happen to California health care programs as the Trump administration takes power. The Republican Party has signaled plans to overhaul the federal Medicaid program, which provides health care for low-income people, possibly leading to billions of dollars in cuts to California. Trump policies could also have major implications for the state’s health insurance marketplace as well as programs addressing homelessness and reproductive health. “The reality is that the delivery of health care is a rescue operation. That’s what we do when people become ill,” said Peterson, a professor of public policy at UCLA Luskin and senior fellow at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. “Well, what if we can prevent people from becoming ill in the first place? Which would be both enhancement for their lives and their economic productivity. It would also mean we’d be spending less on health care.”

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Newsom’s Health Care Initiatives in Peril

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UCLA Luskin health policy expert Mark Peterson weighed in on prospects for California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s health care agenda in a story by the Los Angeles Times and KFF News. Newsom has steered tens of billions in public funding to safety net services for the state’s neediest residents and launched initiatives to make health care more affordable, but some of his most sweeping initiatives have faltered. Under the next Trump administration, the governor’s signature health initiatives, as well as his own political future, are likely to become a target. For example, California became the first state in the nation to allow immigrants without legal status to enroll in free health care under Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid. “That is fuel to feed the Republican MAGA argument that we are taking tax dollars from good Americans and providing health care to immigrants,” said Peterson, a professor of public policy with a joint appointment at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.

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Peterson on Future of the Affordable Care Act

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Mark A. Peterson, professor of public policy at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, commented in a Los Angeles Times article about how the next presidential administration could impact health in California, from food and medicine to medical costs. California lawmakers already have announced steps to block attempts to interfere with the current state agenda. Among areas of concern are former President Trump’s attempt to roll back the Affordable Care Act during his first term, which was ultimately unsuccessful, and his more recent position of replacing the historic legislation only if a better plan is created. “It’s very unlikely that Republicans will want to take on the Affordable Care Act,” Peterson said. “It did not go well for them last time … and now the Affordable Care Act is more popular than ever.” Peterson, a senior fellow at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, has a joint appointment at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.

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Health Care Policy and the 2024 Election

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The Los Angeles Times asked health care experts to comment on health policies proposed by the two major candidates running for U.S. president. Topics included the Affordable Care Act, the cost of prescription drugs and Medicare. Both candidates have signaled that they would attempt to lower prescription drug costs as well as protect Medicare, but have been light on details during a campaign season in which Americans have ranked health care high on the list of important issues, according to the story. Mark A. Peterson, professor of public policy at UCLA Luskin, discussed risk pooling, which involves sharing medical costs to calculate insurance premiums. Peterson, who also holds appointments in political science and law at UCLA, said a plan that included risk pooling could lower insurance costs for the young and healthy but the practice also risks driving up rates for older people, especially those with chronic conditions.

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Keeping Guard Against the Forces Behind Jan. 6

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Sandeep Prasanna MPP/JD ’15 returned to his UCLA Luskin alma mater to share a pressing message about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol: The threat is not over. Prasanna served as investigative counsel for the House Select Committee that issued a comprehensive, 800-page report on the insurrection. “January 6th was not just one event. January 6th was and is an ongoing effort to undermine our democratic institutions,” said Prasanna, whose team spent months interviewing or deposing about 1,000 right-wing extremists who carried out the attack. Now a senior advisor at the law firm Miller & Chevalier, he travels the country to speak with election officials about continuing threats to free and fair voting — including how to safeguard the essential workers who keep the democratic process running smoothly. Prasanna’s comments came at a Feb. 12 event marking the 25th anniversary of UCLA Luskin’s Public Policy program. Chair Robert Fairlie presented him with the 2022 MPP Alumnus of the Year Award, and Professor Mark Peterson led a conversation that touched on Prasanna’s time at UCLA. “I don’t think anyone starts a career in D.C. feeling prepared because things that you learn in a textbook are so different from interacting with people in real life,” Prasanna said. “But the thing they say about law school is that they teach you how to think like a lawyer. What I feel I learned at Luskin was how to do.” He encouraged UCLA Luskin students to take advantage of internships and other opportunities on the East Coast. “There’s a lot of work to do in California, for sure,” he said, “but I think D.C. could use more Luskin grads.”

Learn more about events marking Public Policy’s 25th anniversary. 

View photos of Prasanna’s talk on Flickr.

A Conversation With Sandeep Prasanna MPP/JD ’15

 

Public Health Book Talk and Discussion

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“Grow and Hide: The History of America’s Health Care State”

A book talk and conversation on Feb. 7 with Colleen M. Grogan in conversation with UCLA Luskin Professor Mark Peterson

Wednesday, February 7, 2024
Noon–1 p.m.
Zoom

For more than 160 years, federal, state, and local governments in the United States have invested heavily in public health and health care services. Yet throughout history, our taxpayer-supported health care architecture has remained mostly hidden to the American public behind the veneer of a predominantly private system. How did this happen?

Grogan, a renowned expert on the U.S. health care system, will share answers from her new book “Grow and Hide: The History of America’s Health Care State.” Grogan’s sweeping history of the American health care state explains how and why the grow-and-hide phenomenon arose from 1866 to 1965, and details the consequences we’ve all felt from 1965 to the present.

Grogan argues that a combination of factors allowed the grow-and-hide regime to take root.

Patronage politics, contracting with nonprofits, and administering health care among multiple agencies at all levels of government essentially hid the extent of government involvement and shaped a national discourse that perpetuated the myth of a predominantly private system.

The consequences for the American public are an expensive system that encourages profiteering and fails to hold the private sector accountable. It’s also an inequitable system with inconsistent transparency that reveals public funding for poor and stigmatized groups, while hiding public subsidies for middle- and upper-income Americans.

The book talk will be followed by a conversation with Peterson.

SPEAKERS
Colleen M. Grogan, PhD
Deborah R. and Edgar D. Jannotta Professor
University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice

Mark A. Peterson, PhD
Professor of Public Policy, Political Science, and Law
UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, UCLA College, and UCLA School of Law

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Uncovering Climate Hazards in California’s Prisons

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A San Francisco Chronicle article highlighted research by UCLA Luskin master of public policy students who found that California’s prison system is not prepared to respond to climate emergencies that threaten the well-being of the state’s incarcerated population. Their report, produced on behalf of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, used a mixed methods approach that included interviews with experts, a spatial analysis and a survey of nearly 600 currently incarcerated people in all 34 of California’s prison facilities. The study found evidence of power outages and generator failures, a lack of shade in outdoor spaces, and a lack of access to air-conditioned spaces or heated facilities during extreme weather events. Sixty-one percent of survey respondents said they experienced heat exhaustion while incarcerated. The researchers, MPP ’23 graduates Aishah Abdala, Abhilasha Bhola, Guadalupe Gutierrez, Eric Henderson and Maura O’Neill, offered a series of policy recommendations aimed at keeping incarcerated people safe, protecting taxpayer interests and ensuring that government institutions are held accountable.

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