Phil Rocco
@philiprocco.bsky.social
politologue // yinzer // co-editor of Publius: The Journal of Federalism // author of "Counting Like a State" https://kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700638758/counting-like-a-state/
Most posts are first drafts, comments welcome.
Most posts are first drafts, comments welcome.
Pinned
Phil Rocco
@philiprocco.bsky.social
· Mar 5
Counting Like a State
An inside look at the 2020 Census that shows the importance of state and local cooperation in the complex federal project of census taking.The census plays a...
kansaspress.ku.edu
Census 2030 will be the subject of a prolonged political assault. We can learn a lot from what state and local governments and NGOs did to save the 2020 Census. I document those strategies in my forthcoming @univpressofkansas.bsky.social book. kansaspress.ku.edu/978070063875...
To add on, a smart take here by @ericblanc.bsky.social on the weaknesses on the labor side of the Dem coalition that made the caving more likely. jacobin.com/2025/11/demo...
November 11, 2025 at 3:52 AM
To add on, a smart take here by @ericblanc.bsky.social on the weaknesses on the labor side of the Dem coalition that made the caving more likely. jacobin.com/2025/11/demo...
Reposted by Phil Rocco
As the ~discourse~ seems to bend interminably towards Republicans trying to figure out how they can (further) HDHP-ify ACA coverage, it's worth revisiting what is probably our best (most rigorous) study on the effect of deductibles in health insurance.
academic.oup.com/qje/article-...
academic.oup.com/qje/article-...
November 10, 2025 at 9:51 PM
As the ~discourse~ seems to bend interminably towards Republicans trying to figure out how they can (further) HDHP-ify ACA coverage, it's worth revisiting what is probably our best (most rigorous) study on the effect of deductibles in health insurance.
academic.oup.com/qje/article-...
academic.oup.com/qje/article-...
Reposted by Phil Rocco
Anyway the eight Dem senators were too lazy to do this
November 11, 2025 at 2:27 AM
Anyway the eight Dem senators were too lazy to do this
Reposted by Phil Rocco
CMS sent out a notice that GA's Section 1115 waiver for its Medicaid work requirements ("The Georgia Pathways to Coverage® Program") will be extended until 31 Dec 2026 (when HR-1's mandated work req's for all state Medicaid programs begins)
Link to the application www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/sec...
Link to the application www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/sec...
September 24, 2025 at 4:04 PM
CMS sent out a notice that GA's Section 1115 waiver for its Medicaid work requirements ("The Georgia Pathways to Coverage® Program") will be extended until 31 Dec 2026 (when HR-1's mandated work req's for all state Medicaid programs begins)
Link to the application www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/sec...
Link to the application www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/sec...
Reposted by Phil Rocco
Ah, creating a legal entitlement for $500K for some elderly millionaires because they being investigated for their role in an insurrection *in exchange for* a show vote to make health care affordable.
Look at this new outrage. To open govt, we're retroactively letting 8 Senators sue for $500K each over having had their J6 phone toll records looked at. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/u...
Spending Bill Would Pave Way for Senators to Sue Over Phone Searches
www.nytimes.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:54 AM
Ah, creating a legal entitlement for $500K for some elderly millionaires because they being investigated for their role in an insurrection *in exchange for* a show vote to make health care affordable.
Key context for last night’s vote was reported by the Prospect on Saturday —>
This is consistent with what we reported on Saturday, though the framing is (preposterously) positive.
-Schumer was getting regular updates from the Cave Caucus
-He didn't want to be seen as pro-caving but was fine with them negotiating to cave
-Shaheen wouldn't say Schumer was working against her
-Schumer was getting regular updates from the Cave Caucus
-He didn't want to be seen as pro-caving but was fine with them negotiating to cave
-Shaheen wouldn't say Schumer was working against her
SCOOP: Schumer privately fought to extend government shutdown
November 11, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Key context for last night’s vote was reported by the Prospect on Saturday —>
Reposted by Phil Rocco
I wrote here about Trump’s limited understanding of health insurance and how relying on direct payments to people for payment toward health care costs is a terrible idea. www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...
November 11, 2025 at 12:53 AM
I wrote here about Trump’s limited understanding of health insurance and how relying on direct payments to people for payment toward health care costs is a terrible idea. www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...
Reposted by Phil Rocco
"but I am le tired" ass caucus
weirdly honest messaging from the breakaway mod/institutionalist leaders who blew up the party strategy
they're explicitly giving up. "It wasn't working so we quit" that's the message
they're explicitly giving up. "It wasn't working so we quit" that's the message
November 10, 2025 at 2:01 PM
"but I am le tired" ass caucus
Reposted by Phil Rocco
I find Phil Rocco's theory that the coalitional nature of the Dem. party has left it unprepared to confront an anti-constitutional one persuasive. I'd be very interested to hear from people across the pond whether the same dynamics hold there.
November 10, 2025 at 5:03 PM
I find Phil Rocco's theory that the coalitional nature of the Dem. party has left it unprepared to confront an anti-constitutional one persuasive. I'd be very interested to hear from people across the pond whether the same dynamics hold there.
Reposted by Phil Rocco
Summing up one of the structural problems that allows this to keep happening over and over again.
November 10, 2025 at 3:40 AM
Summing up one of the structural problems that allows this to keep happening over and over again.
Reposted by Phil Rocco
The politics of the shutdown:
*GOP had a strong opening position
*Undercut themselves with the RIFs and unnecessary cuts to blue states/SNAP
*Polls showed GOP getting most of the blame, no reason to assume that would change
*Dem centrists then folded on their key issue of ACA subsidies
*GOP had a strong opening position
*Undercut themselves with the RIFs and unnecessary cuts to blue states/SNAP
*Polls showed GOP getting most of the blame, no reason to assume that would change
*Dem centrists then folded on their key issue of ACA subsidies
November 10, 2025 at 2:11 AM
The politics of the shutdown:
*GOP had a strong opening position
*Undercut themselves with the RIFs and unnecessary cuts to blue states/SNAP
*Polls showed GOP getting most of the blame, no reason to assume that would change
*Dem centrists then folded on their key issue of ACA subsidies
*GOP had a strong opening position
*Undercut themselves with the RIFs and unnecessary cuts to blue states/SNAP
*Polls showed GOP getting most of the blame, no reason to assume that would change
*Dem centrists then folded on their key issue of ACA subsidies
Reposted by Phil Rocco
Thoughts on Dems throwing a game they were winning. www.offmessage.net/p/16-thought...
16 Thoughts On The Dem Shutdown Cave
Another disgrace, and a new path forward.
www.offmessage.net
November 10, 2025 at 3:27 AM
Thoughts on Dems throwing a game they were winning. www.offmessage.net/p/16-thought...
Summing up one of the structural problems that allows this to keep happening over and over again.
November 10, 2025 at 3:40 AM
Summing up one of the structural problems that allows this to keep happening over and over again.
Reposted by Phil Rocco
On first round of voting on cloture for the cave, Baldwin votes no—she was part of the Gang of 8 talks. Rand Paul is also a no.
November 10, 2025 at 1:36 AM
On first round of voting on cloture for the cave, Baldwin votes no—she was part of the Gang of 8 talks. Rand Paul is also a no.
Reposted by Phil Rocco
This is key. The vote the Dems secured here is a fake nominal vote. Everyone knows this.
November 10, 2025 at 1:43 AM
This is key. The vote the Dems secured here is a fake nominal vote. Everyone knows this.
Reposted by Phil Rocco
The agreement to hold a vote on ACA subsidies is not a concession. It's worth literally nothing. It should be ignored when evaluating the merits of the deal
Sanders: That is a totally meaningless gesture. You can get 100 votes here and it won't mean anything because the House is not going to take it up.
November 10, 2025 at 1:31 AM
The agreement to hold a vote on ACA subsidies is not a concession. It's worth literally nothing. It should be ignored when evaluating the merits of the deal
Reposted by Phil Rocco
i think this is key. taking the deal would amount to taking the blame. it would turn a clear political victory into an unambiguous defeat.
If the Dems blink after all of this, for a deal that all but ensures no ACA subsidies in 2026 anyway, then what was the purpose of letting the shutdown go for 40 days in the first place?
November 10, 2025 at 12:56 AM
i think this is key. taking the deal would amount to taking the blame. it would turn a clear political victory into an unambiguous defeat.
It helps not at all that the topline coverage of how all this stuff works will submerge the details of how this all works, in part because that is one important legacy of the complexity in the ACA’s credits, as well as the whole buffet of neoliberal policy instruments, including HSAs and FSAs.
"A development that appeared to break the logjam: Republicans proposed that healthcare funding be provided directly to households rather than used to pay for a 1-year extension of ACA subsidies. That involves sending federal money into FSAs instead of insurance companies" www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Republicans Pitch Alternative to ACA Extension to End Government Shutdown
A proposal by GOP senators to send money directly to consumers’ health accounts rather than to insurance companies showed signs of breaking a stalemate on negotiations.
www.wsj.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:29 AM
It helps not at all that the topline coverage of how all this stuff works will submerge the details of how this all works, in part because that is one important legacy of the complexity in the ACA’s credits, as well as the whole buffet of neoliberal policy instruments, including HSAs and FSAs.
Reposted by Phil Rocco
apropos of nothing I wrote a book a long time ago about how the DLC and Bill Clinton redefined winning for an entire generation of Democrats as "getting something done" through bipartisanship and compromise rather than achieving (or even having!) a specific outcome in mind, and, what do I know.
Chaotic Neutral: How the Democrats Lost Their Soul in the Center
Chaotic Neutral: How the Democrats Lost Their Soul in the Center [Burmila, Ed] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Chaotic Neutral: How the Democrats Lost Their Soul in the Center
www.amazon.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:21 AM
apropos of nothing I wrote a book a long time ago about how the DLC and Bill Clinton redefined winning for an entire generation of Democrats as "getting something done" through bipartisanship and compromise rather than achieving (or even having!) a specific outcome in mind, and, what do I know.
Reposted by Phil Rocco
Ungated: jacobin.com/2025/08/demo...
How the Democratic Party Was Hollowed Out
Democrats appear incapable of mounting a real opposition to Donald Trump. Their weakness is the result of a decades-long hollowing out of the party, in which organized labor has been displaced by a pa...
jacobin.com
November 9, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Ungated: jacobin.com/2025/08/demo...
Reposted by Phil Rocco
RIF Update: The proposed appropriations legislation would invalidate RIFs conducted between 10/1/25 and 1/30/26. (Section 120). It does not include any provisions invalidating RIFs pre-10/1/25 or preventing future RIFs conducted after 1/30/26.
www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/do...
www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/do...
www.appropriations.senate.gov
November 10, 2025 at 12:03 AM
RIF Update: The proposed appropriations legislation would invalidate RIFs conducted between 10/1/25 and 1/30/26. (Section 120). It does not include any provisions invalidating RIFs pre-10/1/25 or preventing future RIFs conducted after 1/30/26.
www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/do...
www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/do...
Reposted by Phil Rocco
SO WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ALL YOU HAVE IS AN HSA AND YOUR KID NEEDS SURGERY OR YOU GET CANCER?????
I am going to go insane that anyone things a personal savings account is a replacement for insurance.
I am going to go insane that anyone things a personal savings account is a replacement for insurance.
(also pretty sure this graphic is is AI-generated, haha)
November 9, 2025 at 11:49 PM
SO WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ALL YOU HAVE IS AN HSA AND YOUR KID NEEDS SURGERY OR YOU GET CANCER?????
I am going to go insane that anyone things a personal savings account is a replacement for insurance.
I am going to go insane that anyone things a personal savings account is a replacement for insurance.
Reposted by Phil Rocco
One thing from our piece on Saturday: Sen. Shaheen is leading the Senate cave caucus. She's on the appropriations committee and wants whatever little goodies she got in her appropriations bill passed into law. As we wrote:
prospect.org/2025/11/08/w...
prospect.org/2025/11/08/w...
November 9, 2025 at 10:55 PM
One thing from our piece on Saturday: Sen. Shaheen is leading the Senate cave caucus. She's on the appropriations committee and wants whatever little goodies she got in her appropriations bill passed into law. As we wrote:
prospect.org/2025/11/08/w...
prospect.org/2025/11/08/w...
Reposted by Phil Rocco
So, the caving, what's the "real" core concern? I'd guess:
1. The hungry? ❌
2. The uninsured ❌
3. Societal air travel addiction ✅
We'll see I guess.
1. The hungry? ❌
2. The uninsured ❌
3. Societal air travel addiction ✅
We'll see I guess.
November 9, 2025 at 11:32 PM
So, the caving, what's the "real" core concern? I'd guess:
1. The hungry? ❌
2. The uninsured ❌
3. Societal air travel addiction ✅
We'll see I guess.
1. The hungry? ❌
2. The uninsured ❌
3. Societal air travel addiction ✅
We'll see I guess.