Harold Pollack

Election night 2008 was a promising moment for public health. The Bush era had brought political acrimony, managerial problems, and under-funding had brought severe morale problems to the alphabet soup of federal agencies concerned with population health and safety-net care. It was therefore a powerful relief to greet new leadership under a presidential administration and […]

I’ve been following my left-liberal friends’ reaction to Margaret Thatcher’s death. I take it they’re not huge fans of her historical legacy. I’m not such a big fan myself. But one aspect of her legacy deserves some notice. The Thatcher government responded rather effectively and humanely to the HIV/AIDS crisis. Embracing harm reduction measures such […]

One aspect of the gun issue gets less attention than it should: The need in a million ways to change our cultural norms regarding responsible gun ownership and use, and the need to reject the presence of military or assault-styled weaponry and accessories in our common civilian life. The Most Rev. John Wester, Bishop of […]

I recently completed a long video interview with Helaine Olen, whose fascinating new book Pound Foolish excoriates the personal finance industry. More on that interview in due course. I’m fascinated by the ways that families respond to financial crises, the way that families save—or don’t save–for retirement, college, or unexpected medical bills. The source of […]

I am an emphatic tobacco control advocate. My mother-in-law and my father-in-law both died horribly and young of lung cancer. I yield to no one in my desire to tax the hell out of cigarettes, require aggressive warning labels, the full list. I despise the tobacco industry, and would stop just-short of TP’ing Altria’s corporate […]

If you have to write a story about Chicago’s crime problem, you couldn’t do much worse than Kevin Williamson’s “Gangsterville: How Chicago reclaimed the projects but lost the city,” on the web at the National Review. To be sure, Williamson makes a few good points. He notes, for example, that the decline of disciplined hierarchical […]

How to Survive a Plague was up for an Academy Award last night. It’s gripping, one of the best films on HIV/AIDS ever made. Those who have seen it know that this film tells the story from one perspective–ACT-UP’s. Of course, other films deserve to be made, films that tell the story from other angles, […]

During the health reform fight, a handful of people emerged with distinctive voices, who had a huge impact. The best of them combined the policy expertise, empathy, and graceful writing to command public attention as we finally extended health insurance coverage to millions of people. Jonathan Cohn, senior editor of the New Republic was certainly […]

A key challenge for gun policy reflects the asymmetric passions of the two sides. The National Rifle Association and its allies hold unpopular views in the country at-large. Yet they want it more. They are more passionate, more organized, and more focused on promoting their agenda than the majority of Americans who oppose them. Link […]