In the News
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February 1, 2022
Nationwide, a record 14.5 million people signed up for a 2022 marketplace health plan during the latest open enrollment — which policy experts attribute to more generous premium and deductible subsidies that came with the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan relief package that President Biden signed last March. “That was definitely the biggest change and why we saw such high enrollment this year,” said Samantha Iovan, health policy senior project manager at the Center for Health and Research Transformation.
Detroit Free Press -
February 1, 2022
“Individuals are more than willing to give up someone else’s freedom in order to protect their own safety. And similarly, people are willing to give up other people’s safety to protect their own freedom. … Freedom of speech is particularly valuable if and only if you also have a strong sense of personal safety,” said Robert Sellers, vice provost for equity and inclusion and chief diversity officer.
The Chronicle of Higher Education -
January 31, 2022
“Given further tension resulting from Russia’s troop buildup near Ukraine’s border, I don’t think there is much of a chance that a deal or a (prisoner) swap could be developed,” said Melvyn Levitsky, clinical professor of public policy, on efforts to free Michigan’s Paul Whelan, jailed in Russia since 2018 for alleged spying. “Because we are dealing with someone as Machiavellian and ruthless as Putin, I think (Whelan’s imminent release), unfortunately, (is) less likely,” said Javed Ali, clinical associate professor of public policy.
The Detroit News -
January 31, 2022
“If lab leaders look at the people they train as a commodity, then they can get stuck in this idea that their students can go only into academia. … To me, the end goal is to get someone to where they want to go by training them to be an excellent scientist,” said Regina Baucom, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.
Nature -
January 31, 2022
“This is a huge step in preserving his legacy in a way that Justice Ginsburg failed to do,” said Leah Litman, assistant professor of law, on the decision by Justice Stephen Breyer to retire from the U.S. Supreme Court while Democrats hold the presidency and a slim majority in the Senate. “He saw what happened to his friend, to her jurisprudence and all the things that mattered to her when she didn’t step down while she was able to.”
New York Magazine -
January 28, 2022
Don Herzog, professor of law, says there’s no real incentive for Dominion Voting Systems to reach settlements in its billion-dollar defamation lawsuits against pro-Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell: “It’s that almost always, the party settling will stipulate in its terms of settlement: I don’t concede that I did anything wrong. And unless they’re nuts, what the corporation wants out of those two is exactly the acknowledgment that you did something wrong.”
Reuters -
January 28, 2022
“We never know which ones are going to turn out to be the ones that have incredible economic impact, employment impact and innovation impact. It’s a numbers game: The more seeds you plant, the more flowers that might bloom,” said Stewart Thornhill, executive director of the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, commenting on the sudden burst of startup activity in the U.S., creating the biggest entrepreneurship boom in half a century.
WIRED -
January 28, 2022
The state of U.S. democracy and its “poor pandemic response” have emboldened China, says Mary Gallagher, professor of political science and director of the Center for Chinese Studies: “The multiple U.S. failures create momentum for renewed nationalism and confidence in China. This is made all the more effective by the Communist Party’s strict control over information, which can rain ‘positive energy’ down on what’s happening in China.”
The Associated Press -
January 27, 2022
“And this idea in Michigan that we have this old law on the books that actually makes providing an abortion a felony, such that if Roe is overturned, that would go into effect … it’s changed my impression that this is more precarious than I might have thought before,” said Joelle Abramowitz, assistant research scientist at the Institute for Social Research, on the potential elimination of federal abortion rights.
Detroit Free Press -
January 27, 2022
“The pandemic has done a lot of things that have contributed to inflation. One is that it has shifted demand from services to goods … more goods are being provided but it hasn’t been able to keep up, so we’re also seeing much higher prices,” said Joshua Hausman, associate professor of public policy. “The other is that the labor force has shrunk a lot from its pre-pandemic level.”
CBS News
