health policy

News

Potential health impacts of the ‘big beautiful bill’

Jun 17, 2025

As the U.S. Senate debates the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025, University of Michigan experts are available to discuss elements of the proposed spending plan that stand to leave a mark on health, health care and public...

State & Hill

Faculty news, spring 2025

May 7, 2025

Read about the latest faculty accomplishments and...

Headshots of faculty featured within this article.

News

Death by a thousand federal cuts: Current executive actions will not Make America Healthy Again, says Lantz

Apr 9, 2025 The Milbank Quarterly

Paula Lantz highlights an “overt disconnect” between the creation of President Trump’s Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) Commission and his administration's concurrent actions that reduce federal funding for public health...

News

Shaefer's Rx Kids program celebrates nearly $6M distributed to Flint families in 1st year

Feb 7, 2025

Rx Kids, co-directed by the Ford School's Luke Shaefer, celebrated it one-year anniversary at the end of January. The program has given access to $6M in cash support for over 1,300 Flint families with pregnant mothers and babies in their first years...

News

Fixing a broken health care system can help heal ailments, stem frustrations

Jan 20, 2025

Pamela Herd is the Carol Kakalec Kohn professor of social policy at the Ford School of Public Policy and a faculty associate at the Institute for Social Research’s Population Studies Center. Her research focuses on inequality and how it intersects...

News

Celeste Watkins-Hayes to serve on Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS

Jan 17, 2025

Celeste Watkins-Hayes, the Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, has been invited to serve on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA). This prestigious appointment...

News

Exciting events at the Ford School this January

Jan 10, 2025

The Ford School is pleased to announce an exciting lineup for our January 2025 Policy Talks @ the Ford School series and other special public events hosted with partners from across campus.Events are free and open to the public unless otherwise...

News

Q&A with health policy expert Pam Herd

Jan 9, 2025

Sociologist Pamela Herd joined the Ford School faculty in September 2024 as the Carol Kakalec Kohn Professor of Social Policy. Her research focuses on inequality and how it interacts with policy issues including health, aging, and administrative...

News

A Fight for Our Common Humanity: Dr. Denis Mukwege’s Efforts to End Rape as a Weapon of War

Dec 20, 2024

123,000 women were raped in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2023 - that’s one woman every 4 minutes. Dr. Denis Mukwege dedicated his life to helping victims of sexual assault in Congo, building a program of holistic healing and justice at...

Publication

The role of state ballot initiatives in abortion policymaking has peaked, Lantz says

Dec 18, 2024

Since the 2022 Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, state ballot measures, which allow citizens to vote on state constitutional amendments and laws, have become a significant form of abortion policymaking. Paula...

State & Hill

Greater than its sum: an update on the Kohn Collaborative

Dec 17, 2024

Six years ago, Harold and Carol Kohn approached the Ford School with a vision. Their goal was to help build a vibrant research community dedicated to promoting social equity and inclusion. Today, the Kohn Collaborative for Social Policy is poised to...

In the Media

Why Herd says barriers to healthcare access are particularly "frustrating"

Dec 16, 2024 The Seattle Medium

Speaking with The Seattle Medium, Ford School professor Pam Herd stated paperwork and barriers to government benefits are almost always frustrating and painful. “It’s one thing to be frustrated at the DMV because you have a ton of paperwork to fill...

In the Media

Herd: Barriers to health care access are especially painful

Dec 6, 2024 NPR

Pam Herd, a professor of social policy at the University of Michigan who studies administrative burdens involved in accessing government services, says barriers to health care access are especially painful."It's one thing to be frustrated at the DMV...

In the Media

Herd discusses challenges to receiving disability benefits

Nov 25, 2024 MarketWatch

Pamela Herd, Ford School professor, says that disability benefits are "a category of benefits that’s most difficult to access and most misaligned with the population it’s trying to serve." Additionally, she says the system is "designed in ways that...

News

Michelmore discusses how expanded tax credits benefited family well-being on new podcast

Nov 7, 2024

In a new episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast, Ford School’s Katherine Michelmore reflects on her career—from her first job as a research assistant at the Urban Institute, to her current position at the Ford School studying the effects...

In the Media

Shaefer explains poor health outcomes for Black Americans

Oct 28, 2024 KFF Health News

Luke Shaefer, Ford School professor and director of Poverty Solutions, said to KFF Health News, “I can take facts from 100 years ago about segregation and lynchings for a county and I can predict the poverty rate and life expectancy with...

Photo of Luke Shaefer in the Ford School's Towsley Reading Room

News

Policymakers discuss whether states can pull off single-payer healthcare

Oct 8, 2024

Though millions of Americans still lack health insurance coverage, federal healthcare reform has stagnated since the passage of the Affordable Care Act. Facing the prospect of continued federal inaction, policymakers at the state level are exploring...

Publication

Distrust in U.S. healthcare system fuels COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy

Sep 20, 2024

New research from the University of Michigan examines how long-standing distrust in the U.S. healthcare system has significantly impacted attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine. The research is led by Celeste Watkins-Hayes, Joan and Sanford Weill...

Headshots of Dean Celeste Watkins-Hayes and Dom Adams-Santos

News

Ford School names Paulina Trujillo as 2024 Kohn Scholar

Sep 17, 2024

The Ford School recognizes Paulina Trujillo (MPP ‘26) as the 2024 Kohn Scholar. Kohn Scholars are chosen for their outstanding qualifications and commitment to public service and advancing social policy. The fellowship is a Ford School Rackham...

Publication

Lantz urges rigorous research into the effects of abortion policy

Aug 28, 2024

The U.S. Supreme Court 2022 Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health decision significantly altered the public policy landscape for abortion care, and created a critical need for objective and high-quality abortion policy evaluation research, according...

News

U-M Ford School welcomes renowned scholars and former city leaders

Aug 22, 2024

The Ford School successfully grew our faculty in 2024, bringing in experts to deepen our focus on early childhood education, health and aging, better government, and criminal justice policy. Additionally, we welcomed distinguished policymakers in...

Publication

As election approaches, national poll shows which health topics concern older adults most

Aug 15, 2024

All types of health care costs, and financial scams, rise to the top in University of Michigan study.More than half of the people who voted in the 2020 election were age 50 and older, making this age group a key demographic for candidates up and...

News

Ford School welcomes senior scholars Pamela Herd and Donald Moynihan

Jul 12, 2024

On June 20, the Regents of the University of Michigan approved the appointments of two distinguished new Ford School faculty, sociologist Pamela Herd and political scientist Donald...

Headshots of Pamela Herd and Donald Moynihan

News

Christiana Verdelus named the inaugural winner of the Ali Family Memorial Writing Prize

Jul 9, 2024

Recent graduate Christiana Verdelus (MPP ‘24) has won the inaugural Ali Family Memorial Writing Prize for her work, “Why Michigan's Certificate of Need Law Must be Repealed to Improve Black Maternal Health.”Verdelus’s paper addresses the problem of...

News

Survey shows how Detroiters’ mental health has changed since pandemic

May 30, 2024

Detroiters’ mental health-related symptoms have improved and largely stabilized since the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a University of Michigan report.While the negative impacts of the pandemic on people’s mental health are well...

Photo of building with sign that reads, "How are you really?"

News

Bold Challenges awards $700K for eight research teams

May 1, 2024

Eight interdisciplinary teams from across the University of Michigan have received more than $700,000 from the Bold Challenges’ Accelerate Program to explore innovative research projects that address a wide range of societal challenges ranging from...

Publication

State bans on ‘divisive concepts’ could stifle population health research

Apr 25, 2024

Ten states have passed legislation that prohibits teaching and mandatory training for students, faculty, and staff in public higher education on specified 'divisive concepts' related to race and sex. In four of these states, the bans extend to all...

State & Hill

Demographer Paula Lantz on the challenges of designing public health policy

Apr 24, 2024

The government has a clear role in promoting and assuring the goals of public health—the prevention of illness and injury, prolonging life, and promoting the collective health of the entire population. Achieving these goals cannot be left to the...

State & Hill

Discourse: Fordies in the news, spring 2024

Apr 24, 2024

“The most likely explanation for our findings is that Black—and to a lesser extent Hispanic—families were more concerned about the health risks associated with in-person schooling than white families. This is consistent with the fact that nonwhite...

Headshots of Jacob, Camara, Wolfers, Raimi, and Ivacko

News

Stacey Abrams, other policymakers and leading scholars to join Ford School symposium

Mar 12, 2024

The Ford School of Public Policy is happy to announce the Dean’s Symposium, which will take place April 11 and 12 at Weill Hall, with the theme, “Policy Innovation for Our Times.” The two days will feature keynote appearances by voting rights...