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David K. Jones

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Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management, Boston University School of Public Health

715 Albany Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02118
(617) 414-1324

Expertise & Civic Involvements

Jones’ research focuses on U.S. health policy, federalism, and policy implementation. He also studies the intergovernmental dynamics of health policy in France and Canada. In January 2012 he testified before the Health Policy Committee of the Michigan House of Representatives concerning the creation of a health insurance exchange. He is regularly invited by hospitals to speak on health care reform. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Community Action Network Southeast Ann Arbor. Before graduate school he interned in the Idaho House of Representatives; in Congressman Charlie Rangel’s district office in Harlem, NY; and for the Chair of the Health Committee of the Canadian House of Commons.

SSN Briefs

SSN Spotlights

Key Publications

  • "Predicting the Fallout from King v. Burwell — Exchanges and the ACA" (with Nicholas Bagley and Timothy Stoltzfus Jost). The New England Journal of Medicine 372, no. 2 (2015): 101-104.
    Discusses the possible invalidation of the IRS rule, contingent on the King vs. Burwell ruling, and the effects such an outcome would have on state officials, the insurance market, and millions of Americans
  • "Politiques de Santé: The Regional Centralization of French Health Policy" in Federalism and Decentralization in European Health and Social Care: Policy Innovation, Competition and Cohesion, edited by Joan Costa i Font and Scott L. Greer (Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming).
    Examines the intergovernmental dynamics affecting the implementation of France’s 2009 health reform law. Based on interviews with French policymakers, this chapter explores tension over the centralizing and decentralizing nature of the creation of new regional health agencies.
  • "The Changing Landscape of Medicaid: Practical and Political Considerations for Expansion" (with Phillip M. Singer and John Z. Ayanian). Journal of the American Medical Association (online-first article, April 2014).
    Explores the effects of implementing the Affordable Care Act reforms and Medicaid expansion through the states, rather than through the federal government, and how this arrangement increases the number of elected officials able to influence implementation.
  • "Individual and Societal Responsibility for Health" (with Jodyn Platt, Daniel Rubin, and Peter Jacobson), in Debates on U.S. Health Care Reform, edited by Jennie Jacobs Kronenfeld, Wendy E. Parmet, and Mark A. Zezza (Sage Publications, 2012), 48-60.
    Outlines both sides of the debate over whether health is a societal or individual responsibility. On one hand, notions of individual autonomy and responsibility run deep in the American psyche. On the other hand, health is influenced by social, political, and economic forces beyond personal control.
  • "Mapping Infectious Disease Control in the European Union" (with Heather Elliott and Scott Greer). Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law 37, no. 6 (2012): 934-952.
    Argues that the landscape of infectious disease control in the European Union is crowded, fragmented, and regionally disparate, showing no signs of constituting a shared model.
  • "Pascal’s Wager: Republican Divisions over Implementing Health Reform," (with Katharine Bradley and Jonathan Oberlander), Midwest Political Science Conference, April, 2012.
    Illuminates the dilemma facing state Republican policymakers over whether to create health insurance exchanges. Relying on dozens of interviews, we trace the evolution of the division among Republicans, discussing the role of the Tea Party and time horizons to account for the differences in reaction.
  • "The Fate of Health Reform – What to Expect in 2012" New England Journal of Medicine 366, no. 4 (2012).
    Argues that although the Affordable Care Act was a significant legislative achievement for Congress and President Obama, what it actually accomplishes will be determined by how it is implemented. Four key events in 2012 are identified as playing a large role in shaping the long-term fate of the reform, including the Supreme Court ruling and the November elections. Importantly, the timing of these events was in conflict with the timing of state legislative sessions and federal grant deadlines.

Media Contributions

Talks and Briefings

  • "The Fate of Healthcare Reform: Post-Election Follow-Up," St. Mary Mercy Hospital, Livonia, MI, upcoming.
  • "The Politics of Health Reform," Munson Medical Center, Traverse City, MI, upcoming.
  • "The Politics of Health Reform," Oakwood Hospital & Medical Center, Dearborn, MI, upcoming.
  • "The Fate of Health Reform," St. Mary Mercy Hospital, Livonia, MI, July 18, 2012.
  • Testimony on health care reform before the Health Policy Committee of the Michigan House of Representatives, Lansing, MI, January 9, 2012.