John E. McDonough
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About John
In addition to his current faculty position, Dr. McDonough was Senior Advisor on National Health Reform in the U.S. Senate between 2008 and 2010, where he worked on writing and passing the Affordable Care Act. Between 2003-2008, he was Executive Director of Health Care For All, Massachusetts’ consumer health organization where he helped to pass 2006 Massachusetts health reform. From 1985 to 1997, he was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives where he co-chaired the Joint Committee on Health Care. He holds a doctorate in public health from the University of Michigan and a master’s in public administration from the Kennedy School at Harvard. His new book: America’s Wrong Turn: U.S. Healthcare in the Neoliberal Era, will be published in August 2026 by Johns Hopkins University Press.
Contributions
Publications
Examines how market-oriented policies have shaped the evolution of the U.S. healthcare system over recent decades. Argues that increasing reliance on competition, privatization, and consumer choice has contributed to higher costs, persistent inequities, and poorer health system performance than alternative approaches might have achieved.
Chronicles the challenges of reforming the U.S. healthcare system and the political efforts to expand access to health insurance coverage. Demonstrates that major health reform emerged through negotiation, compromise, and sustained political engagement.
Examines how political institutions, public policy, and individual leaders shape government decision-making, particularly in the area of healthcare. Illustrates that policy outcomes are often influenced by relationships, negotiation, and political realities as much as by policy ideas themselves.
Explores why hospital rate setting systems were weakened or dismantled despite efforts to control healthcare costs. Shows that the fate of hospital rate regulation was shaped by the interaction of political interests, policy ideas, and changing views about government involvement in healthcare markets.