Health Policy Commentary and Analysis

This site, Health Stew, provides a place where I occasionally write about important matters relating to health, health care, and health policy – mostly the U.S. and sometimes beyond our borders.  I reprint articles and commentaries I write for other sources, mostly the Milbank Quarterly and Commonwealth Magazine.  This is also a convenient way to connect with LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social media.

This site has gone through phases.  Originally, Health Stew was a “community voices” blog among many on boston.com associated with the Boston Globe.  That ended in 2014 when the Voices section was eliminated.  Then I created Health Stew as an independent blog for my writings here and there.

I do this to add my voice to those seeking to advance a fairer, more just, more equitable, smarter, and better health care system for all Americans.  I am not neutral when it comes to the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare).  I was one of an army of Congressional staff who worked on writing and passing the law between 2008 and 2010. I wrote a book about the ACA called Inside National Health Reform to help explain the process to passage and the substance of this law.  I understand health reform as a continuous process that never ends and, we hope, gets better.

I like Health Stew because I like stew and the image of ingredients coming together to produce a nutritious and tasty dish with an attractive aroma.  My interests are wide, including access, quality, costs, public health, equity, politics, history, economics, psychology, sociology, law, finance, and more.  If you want to catch up, you can check out all my earlier Health Stew posts by clicking here.

Enjoy and write to me at jmcdonough@hsph.harvard.edu