Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

The words do not have to be perfect.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Republicans don’t trust women.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Ah, the different things are different argument.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

You are here: Home / Anderson On Health Insurance / Personal Announcement

Personal Announcement

by | 145 Comments

This post is in: ,

Yesterday, I officially accepted an offer of enrollment into the Duke University Department of Population Health Sciences doctoral program.  I will be starting this August.  I will be in the Health Services Research (HSR) track with a focus on policy development.

I am hyper excited and a bit nervous.  This is going to be a big jump and a big change from a pathway that so far has been working out pretty well for me and my family. I’ll still be at Duke Margolis in some capacity (details to be determined) and I will still be writing at Balloon-Juice (details also to be determined).

Mudbrush had a great comment last year:

Personal Announcement

Yeah, I do study some insane shit. I find those questions to be utterly fascinating. Occasionally the answers will provide meaningful improvement to peoples’ lives.

I need the doctoral training because right now I am limited. I am able to identify situations likely to produce insane shit that can then generate meaningful and generalizable knowledge. I can connect the dots between policy levers to address the insane shit.  I am very good at identifying weird policy quirks and running incentives through to their logical behavioral end.  I can identify causal opportunities, discontinuities and promising areas of weirdness. However, I need to rely on my co-authors to perform fundamental magic in the middle with methods more often than not.  I don’t think I will ever submit a paper to Econometrica but I want and more importantly need to understand causal inference far better to have the most impact in the next twenty five years of my career.

I chose Duke for several reasons.  First, I have been lucky enough to have worked at Duke Margolis for the past four and a half years.  During this time, I have had the opportunity to work with and more importantly co-author with a good chunk of the Duke PopHealth department.  I am always learning from my co-authors.  More importantly, I fundamentally like working with my co-authors who are on faculty in PopHealth.  They are all wicked smart and more importantly, good people to be around.  I will learn a lot from them.  The program is also brand new with one current MD/PhD candidate going through the initial stages, but my cohort will be the first fully recruited cohort.  I will be a part of setting the long run culture and that is an amazing opportunity.

Finally, this is a huge shift in life trajectory.  My family likes the Triangle.  My wife likes it here.  My kids like it here.  Going to Duke PopHealth means my commute (when we return to campus) is merely several minutes longer than what it was when I went in to the Margolis offices.  This is a pathway that will require a tremendous amount of work over the next four or five years (hopefully four) but Duke is the least disruptive means of walking that path for my family.

So any journey starts with a step — and I took that first step yesterday.

Reader Interactions

145Comments

  3. 3.

    West of the Cascades

    Dr. Richard Mayhew. Congrats!!! And thank you for continuing to post here – I can’t count the number of times I felt lost in trying to navigate health insurance and found assistance and insight in your posts.

  6. 6.

    J R in WV

    Best of luck, Future Doctor Mayhew-Anderson.

    No advice, I’m so not an academic oriented person, but best wishes, and take care of yourself…

  10. 10.

    OzarkHillbilly

    So any journey starts with a step — and I took that first step yesterday.

    Congrats, I look forward to seeing you on top of that mountain.

  14. 14.

    Rusty

    1. Congratulations and I recognize the hard road ahead balancing a PhD program and a family.  My spouse went back for her PhD with two preschoolers, it’s a challenging road.  I will send out prayers for both you and your spouse.
  17. 17.

    sab

    We jackals always wish you well. Not burning any bridges, just adding to your luster?

  18. 18.

    JeanneT

    You go, man!  That is so exciting!  I look forward to hearing how it goes, and what you tackle for your dissertation.

  26. 26.

    MazeDancer

    Outstanding! You will be, no doubt, a great Dr. David.

    And, it takes as long as it takes. Measure nothing except knowledge acquired.

    (Excellent day to announce as well. Traditional best wishes accompany your journey.)

  28. 28.

    JKC

    Congratulations, Dave. You do indeed study insane shit, but you’ve got enough perspective and brains to know it’s nuts. Best of luck to you in this newest endeavor!

  29. 29.

    e julius drivingstorm

    Congratulations. You say you’re nervous but from what I’ve read of your stuff I’d say they’re damn lucky to have you.

  31. 31.

    patrick II

    Thank you for your work here.  The depth, detail, expertise, and accessibility are a rare combination on this important topic that may be unique to the free internet, and I appreciate it.  The Duke doctoral program will be lucky to have you.​ Congratulations to both of you.

  32. 32.

    cintibud

    Congratulations David! Best of luck. Please keep posting your insane shit. Even though I don’t read it much* it’s very comforting to know it’s out there and available and that the forces of good are out there fighting. Thank you for that!

     

    *OK, never

  33. 33.

    Auntie Anne

    Congratulations!  It sounds as though you have a clear understanding of what you want to get out of your doctorate, which is great.  When you become Dr. Mayhew, don’t forget about us jackals – your ability to write about the opaque mysteries of health insurance has been a great gift to us – and I hope your doctorate means you will share that gift widely beyond the jackaltariat.  But always here, of course – we would miss you if you stopped writing here!

  35. 35.

    trollhattan

    Germans probably have a compound noun for it, Verrücktscheisse or somesuch. Congratulations on the fresh path and best wishes on the journey! Doktor von Verrücktscheisse might not fit on a business card, however.

  36. 36.

    Steve in the ATL

    Fantastic news–congratulations!

    I will still hope that your basketball team loses every game.

  37. 37.

    lowtechcyclist

    Best of luck!  I went back to start work in my doctorate when I was in my mid-30s, but fortunately I was still single at the time.  So it was still a big step, but at least I didn’t have to take into account how the demands of a doctoral program would affect my family.  People do it, though, and I’m sure you and your family will get through it OK.

    The important thing is that you know why you need it, why it’s important to you.  Getting a doctorate isn’t a walk in the park, so you’ve got to have some solid deep-down motivation to get you through.  It sounds like you’ve got that in spades, and I’ll look forward to congratulating Dr. Anderson in four or five years.

  38. 38.

    JCJ

    Were they aware of your balloon-juice affiliation when you were accepted into the program?   When you are done will you be Dr Dick (Mayhew)?

  39. 39.

    RobertDSC-Work

    Happy for you. They’re getting an enormous boost to their program with your joining. Thank you for all you do.

  40. 40.

    Rugosa

    Congratulations!  I was out of work when the ACA went through and your posts were invaluable in helping me understand and navigate the system to keep healthcare until I was working again.  Somebody’s got to study the insane shit ;-)

  42. 42.

    Kathleen

    Congratulations! I’m so excited for you. Sounds like the perfect opportunity for you and your family.

  45. 45.

    Betty

    Congratulations! Looking forward to your sharing you new knowledge with the world.

  46. 46.

    CaseyL

    I am so pleased and excited for you!

    Thanks for planning to continue writing at BJ, and (hopefully) continuing to be an active part of the BJ community.  It’s not possible to overstate how much you mean to us, how much help and advice you’ve given over the many years of rassling with health care policy ever since the ACA’s first debates.

    Can’t wait to be able to call you Doctor ??

  50. 50.

    West of the Rockies

    David, truly, I wish you the very best.  Your generous and tireless (really, you should get some tires) sharing of knowledge and insight is such a plus here on BJ.  I am sure you will do exceptionally well.  I’m glad you will remain here, too.

  51. 51.

    Mudbrush

    Congratulations, David, you ARE brilliant. I’m just trollish because I don’t I understand half the stuff you post, I’m just a dumb nurse. But I know this work is important & affects all Americans directly or indirectly. Yay Mayhew!

  53. 53.

    Matt McIrvin

    Considering that you’re clearly already an expert, you’ve got a considerable head start. Best of luck.

  55. 55.

    kindness

    Congrats.  Doctoral programs tend to eat all of one’s time and energies.  Just keep plugging away.

    Doctor David Anderson, PhD has a nice ring to it.

  56. 56.

    laura

    When smart people get together with other smart people who challenge and push and learn and collaborate exciting things happen!

    Congratulations and thanks on choosing a very difficult path to major social good.

  58. 58.

    mali muso

    Congratulations! Having done my doctorate pre-kids, I take my metaphorical hat off to you. It’s definitely a big commitment. Duke is lucky to have you in the program!

  60. 60.

    susanna

    This is a big deal!  Congratulations on this new journey, but don’t consider leaving here, not even for a moment.

  61. 61.

    AM in NC

    HUGE congrats, David!  I hope the program and your experience in it is everything you hope it will be and then some.  Glad you and the family continue to like this neck of the woods.

  65. 65.

    Lobo

    Good luck.  I have learned a lot from you on some very esoteric but important health issues.   I wish you the best and hope you can continue to educate and interact with us.

  70. 70.

    Spanky

    Congrats! Your writing shows this is emminently doable for you.

    Now finish the damned dissertation!

  73. 73.

    Raven

    I did this 25 years ago. I spent 18 years in one field and had lost the mojo. It was the best decision I ever made!

  74. 74.

    way2blue

    David, such great news.  Congratulations!  I look forward to a few posts describing your journey.

  75. 75.

    Wanderer

    Congratulations and wishing you smooth sailing navigating such a rigorous path.

  79. 79.

    Felanius Kootea

    Congratulations and welcome to the future club of the “doctors that make it worse.” (I kid).

  80. 80.

    Just One More Canuck

    Congratulations – this is such a great move. Just want to add that I miss your posts and perspective on youth soccer and refereeing

  81. 81.

    VeniceRiley

    Congrats Mayhew!  Sounds like you’ll enjoy nerding out with your fellow nerds. You’re brilliant and we know you can git er dun.

  82. 82.

    dmsilev

    Congratulations! And try to be a good mentor to all of the young whippersnappers who will be your classmates.

  83. 83.

    Madeleine

    Congratulations and best wishes as you take this new path! Duke has made a good decision accepting you in the new program, too. Glad you’re staying here as much as you can.

  87. 87.

    SWMBO

    May the Fourth be with you…always.

    Ooops. I thought you already had a doctorate.

    Congratulations and good luck.

    Call or write if you get real work….

  89. 89.

    Baud

    I am able to identify situations likely to produce insane shit that can then generate meaningful and generalizable knowledge. I can connect the dots between policy levers to address the insane shit.  I am very good at identifying weird policy quirks and running incentives through to their logical behavioral end.  I can identify causal opportunities, discontinuities and promising areas of weirdness.

    I mean, who can’t?

  90. 90.

    trollhattan

    @Steve in the ATL:

    He’s a soccer guy so perhaps not invested in that hoops squad.

    Speaking of, Duke women still alive in the NCAA tournament round of 16, facing Ole Miss. Ole Miss sounds like a walkover except they knocked out mighty USC so you just never know. Tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. civilized time.

  91. 91.

    Another Scott

    Excellent and well deserved.  You can do it, and you’ll be an increasingly great credit to the field.

    At its most annoying and in the darkest moments, remember – it doesn’t last forever.  You’ll get through it, just keep pushing forward.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  93. 93.

    Hazmat

    Congratulations, this is so exciting!! And many thanks for all the help understanding and navigating the ACA mishmash over the years, from this freelancer turned sole proprietor.

  94. 94.

    Leto

    Big congratulations! Sounds like a lot of things are really falling into place for you and your family, and that’s always an amazing feeling. Can’t wait for the BJ graduation party :)

  96. 96.

    SFBayAreaGal

    Congratulations and all the best to you and your family.  I hope you will have the time to write about your experiences on this new path you are taking.

  98. 98.

    narya

    You are going to–and I say this completely unironically–have SO MUCH FUN! And your ability to make the murky understandable and clear–and the work that goes into being able to do that–will stand you in good stead. Good luck to you!

  99. 99.

    StringOnAStick

    I had assumed you already had a PhD, given the depth of your expertise and writings here (that are the best anywhere on the topics at hand!).  You’ll do the inaugural class proud!

  100. 100.

    Formica

    Congratulations, you deserve every bit of it. As I said last week, your work has been incredibly educational for me, and I’m grateful you continue to share it with us. I also really enjoy it when you shoot down the unicorns and ponies crowd that think bumper stickers will fix everything; your work has helped me feel more informed about what solutions will work better to serve certain demos, and what the realistic constraints are that bound progress in expanding access to care. Thanks dude ?

  103. 103.

    Ruckus

    David,

    Congrats!

    Always a lot of work, but also seems to always be worth the effort.

  104. 104.

    zeecube

    Well thought out trajectory.  Look forward to referring to you as Doc Anderson.

  105. 105.

    Nutmeg again

    Good luck!  Ave atque vale, although you are sticking around.  I was also a grown up, although perhaps less so than you, when I did my Ph.D.  My daughter still has memories of me toting her around libraries when I made … photocopies … Thank Maude that’s over!  I hope that as a white man with significant professional accomplishments your professors treat you well.  All the best.

  106. 106.

    Suzanne

    Congratulations! Holding a Ph.D. in Insane Shit is awesome.
    The world needs nerds.

  109. 109.

    Tony Jay

    Have we done the joke about walking into the cafeteria on your first day, going up to the biggest, baddest brain-box in the room and smacking them upside the head with a cracking bit of Health Insurance gobbledegook?

    I mean, I say ‘joke’.

  110. 110.

    stinger

    Oh, what wonderful news! You have a challenge ahead of you, but you’ve shown over and over again that you can handle challenges, David! I’m sure this will open up additional career possibilities for you, as well.

  114. 114.

    prostratedragon

    Congratulations! You seem much more than merely prepared. Show ’em what for.

  115. 115.

    Mousebumples

    Congratulations and best of luck from a former Doctoral Candidate (PharmD) to a future Doctoral Candidate. (PopHealthD?) ?

  116. 116.

    Redleg

    David,
    Good luck with the Ph.D. program. You have done a great job at BJ writing about the research you are doing. Keep up the good work.

    Now that you are a doctoral student (or will be one in the Fall), I need to ask you what your dissertation topic is. Senior doctoral students have asked incoming doctoral students this same question for many years now, not because they care what the research is but because they want to make the new students more anxious about the program. I remember feeling somewhat insecure when they first asked me this question when I started the Ph.D. program. I had a general idea of what I wanted to do but not all the details. Lucky for me, I figured out fairly quickly that they were just kidding me. So I wanted to be the first if no one else has asked this yet.

  121. 121.

    David Anderson

    @Redleg: Honestly, I have a fairly decent idea of what my dissertation is likely to be focused on:

    How does the  interaction of program design, incentives on private providers of social welfare goods, and consumer behavior work in markets of predictable incomplete and imperfect information?

    Paper 1: Do insurers in the ACA markets invest and harvest?

    Paper 2: How do insurers  use network design to screen and select for net of risk adjustment residual profitably (money losers) beneficiaries?

    Paper 3: How do consumers interpret zero premium and react to that set of interpretations? (probably a qual paper)

     

    Those papers are likely to change between now and my proposal in a few years, but I think my fundamental question(s) will be constant.

  122. 122.

    David Anderson

    @sheila in nc: Absolutely nothing is wrong with Gillings.  It is an amazing group of researchers and students doing absolutely amazing work.  I had a fairly narrow search radii for my AY-21-22 search parameters for a variety of reasons where if I did not find a good fit for me this time around, Gillings/UNC HPM would have been very high on my search list for the next go-around.

  123. 123.

    David Anderson

    @Mudbrush: I am being sincere — it is one hell of a comment.

    I sometimes laugh as I see my daughter grow up.  She is a far cuter and more pleasant version of me at her age.  She gets lost in her own self-created fanfiction universe that she is creating/writing and I get nightly downloads from her as she tells me about her characters developping and interacting.  She is doing the same exact thing I did at her age and I am doing now — finding something that jazzes us and taking it to the extreme — for me, it is ACA weirdness including Silverloading and price shocks and behavioral econ oddities, and for her it is elemental magic users.  The major difference between our two efforts to stay lost in space is my version has a bit more math in it, and I can get paid for my meanderings in my own head.  But objectively speaking, this is fucking insane and at times inane things I get deeply stuck in on.

  124. 124.

    Librarian

    Congrats. I also was under the impression that you had completed your education and already had a doctorate. This is a complete surprise for me.

  125. 125.

    David Anderson

    @Librarian: One of my great skills in life is I can quickly fake it until I sound like I make it.

    I graduated from Carnegie Mellon in 2003 with a masters in public policy and management and that was the last time I was in a classroom as a student.

  126. 126.

    MomSense

    Congratulations!  I’m glad your  family has settled in so well in NC.

  127. 127.

    Nelle

    Congratulations! I envy the excitement of getting another first day of school. Enjoy!

  129. 129.

    TomatoQueen

    Congratulations and best wishes to you and your family for future surviving and thriving, and of course patiently looking forward to the day when we can call you Doc!

  130. 130.

    dnfree

    We will say we knew you when!  This is awesome news. Just remember not to call yourself a Dr. unless you can deliver a baby, or something like that.

    You have a special ability and a lot to contribute and I’m glad you’ve found your people.

  131. 131.

    Mary G

    First of all, yay for liberals staying in a state in sight of turning purple! I try to read all your posts; they were very soothing and calming when my outrage meter was in the red zone during the era of TFG. I would force myself to concentrate and pay attention and think about how this applies to me. You usually lose me at charts; they are often to see the print in even with a 23″ monitor and progressive bifocals. Even when I had almost no idea what you were talking about, your enthusiasm was great to see and inspired me not to throw up my hands and find a new hobby. You are indeed going to be the crown jewel in your school’s new department and are required to post graduation photos when you are done, preferably with pets.

  133. 133.

    polyorchnid octopunch

    Congratulations. I’m sure you’re going to excel. All the best.

  134. 134.

    Argiope

    You’ll be such an asset to the program and to your cohort of scholars and scientists—the star of Nerd Squad! Congratulations, Dr. Anderson-to-be!  I wish you the best of rigorous, kind, motivating advisors, the daring to build the road while you’re driving on it, and the patience to wait at least 24 hours before finalizing your decision(s) to quit along the way.  That’s normal and expected, AFAICT.  I took 7 years, my kid learned to appreciate science by example and is now going into it herself, and I’m glad I finished.  You will be, too, and you’ll be done a LOT sooner.  Oh, and I’m still married!  To the same patient human! It can be done, and you’ll do it.  We will all be better off because of your work.

  135. 135.

    TS (the original)

    I’m late to the party – but many congratulations David. I find your posts and explanations here amazing – many of them I will never understand but I astound my friends by sometimes understanding the US health systems and on the underside of the world  that is an amazement.

    Improving health systems have massive impacts on peoples lives and you seem to be at forefront of making this happen. That you enjoy the work as well makes the outcomes even better.

    Look forward to hearing about the graduation

  136. 136.

    Bill Arnold

    Another late comment; thank you for your penetrating intelligent writing here. (Always at least skimmed.)

    Re faking it, an underrated skill. Google scholar and related were game changers for me; could discern the outlines of a random small field over a pot (or three) of coffee; find key papers, find key players, suss out the basics of the intra-field disputes, see some of the current focuses of research. Enough to ask reasonable questions at a seminar. (Not expertise, and not pretending to it, to be clear.)

  137. 137.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @David Anderson: Congrats David. Hopefully the 4 years will be over before you know it. Maybe your dissertation will be  referenced by some civil servant at a congressional hearing  when they’re pushing for a change to the ACA.

  138. 138.

    Dave*s Dad

    I can confirm Dave’s “fake it”….that was in his youth when we were involved with raising him and his siblings…For Dave to get as far as he has, with the knowledge he has acquired…to share with people that are reading his words and thoughts..have please my wife and I greatly

  139. 139.

    Skepticat

    The true congratulations are due Duke University for being lucky (and smart) enough to have you. And studying/knowing/sharing insane shit is a prerequisite for being here, so please continue that.

  140. 140.

    KrackenJack

    Late to the thread as usual, but Congratulations and God speed! This is a brave step. Public health and the research you do improves and even saves lives. This will be great career move for you and a win for healthcare in the US.

  143. 143.

    scribbler

    This thread is deader than a door nail, but I had to add my congratulations.

    Now when I read one of your posts that is particularly hard for me to understand, I can blame it on the egghead academic PHD who wrote it, instead of the obtuse me who read it.

  144. 144.

    Redleg

    @David Anderson: 
    I figured you probably have a better idea than most new doc students about your dissertation. It sounds like it’s important stuff.

Comments are closed.