Friday's on My Mind

So, instead of working on Friday, I went with my professor and a couple of undergraduates to a lecture by Yale professor and New America Fellow Jacob Hacker. I read one of his books for class and the new one was all over the blogs a few weeks ago. He's also something of a blogger himself, once in a while, and can be found on tpmcafe and polysigh. His lecture was good, but very dense and heavy on the statistics. So heavy it seemed that Prof. Hacker hadn't finished parsing them yet.

He's writing a new book on the privatization of risk--how, in America today, the burden of risk (and the consequences of that risk) has shifted from the government and corporations to individuals and families. Now, he made it a point to mention that he's speaking in very specific terms about risk, namely the risks inherent in the health insurance industry (shift of risk/responsibility from insurance companies/hmos to individuals) and in the private retirement insurance industry (from governmental responsibility--through Social Security and regulated corporate account--to individuals through tax-sheltered IRAs and 401(k)s and Bush-beloved private accounts). The gist of his argument is not only that this shift has taken place since the last expansion of the Social Security Act (ERISA, in 1974), but that when the consequences of that risk come due, individuals and families are placed under enormous stresses and burdens. The most telling figure of the lecture was that 20% of individuals/families who experience a major health-related expenditure are subsequently forced below the poverty line when paying for it, regardless of pre-expenditure insurance level. A tragically absurd statistic that really drives home some of the realities of health care in America today.

On a lighter note, going to lectures at Harvard is a gratuitously humbling experience. Just sitting in that room, I felt a little out of place (I think I was the only one wearing sneakers) and even though I can't recognize the faces of leading political scientists yet (and a part of me hopes that I never can), I'm pretty sure a good handful of them were at the table across from me. Needless to say, I didn't ask any questions.