Theodore R. Marmor
Professor Emeritus of Public Policy and Political Science, Yale University
Chapter Member: Connecticut SSN
Areas of Expertise:
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About Theodore
Marmor's scholarship primarily concerns welfare state politics and policy in North America and Western Europe. He was a member of President Carter's Commission on the National Agenda for the 1980s, and has testified before Congress about medical care reform, Social Security, and welfare issues, as well as being a consultant to the states of Kentucky, Delaware, Texas, Illinois, and Vermont, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Congressional Committee on Ways and Means, the Urban Institute, the President's Commission on Income Maintenance, the National Institute for Mental Health, the Office of Equal Opportunity, The Ford Foundation, and the Attorney-General, Canada.
Contributions
How Social Insurance Protects Americans from Growing Economic Risks
Key Findings Brief,
Why Turning Medicare into Vouchers Will Not Work
Basic Facts Brief,
In the News
Opinion: "Turning Medicare into Vouchers Won't Work," Theodore R. Marmor, Tampa Tribune, August 18, 2012.
Opinion: "How Do You Say Economic Security?," Theodore R. Marmor (with ), New York Times, September 23, 2011.
Opinion: "Raising Medicare Age Won’t Work," Theodore R. Marmor (with ), Philadelphia Inquirer, July 25, 2011.
Opinion: "Consensus is Wrong on Social Security Fix: Raising the Retirement Age Isn't As Wise As It Sounds," Theodore R. Marmor (with ), Philadelphia Inquirer, May 31, 2011.
Opinion: "A Thinly Disguised Assault on Medicare: The Deficit Hawks Hope to Undermine the Program," Theodore R. Marmor (with ), Philadelphia Inquirer, April 19, 2011.
Opinion: "The Only Hoax Here Is the So-Called Crisis: Social Security's Critics Are Stoking Baseless Fears," Theodore R. Marmor (with ), Philadelphia Inquirer, February 21, 2011.
Opinion: "Ruling Could Backfire on Health-Care Critics: A Step Closer to Much Feared ‘Socialized Medicine'," Theodore R. Marmor (with ), Philadelphia Inquirer, December 29, 2010.
Opinion: "An Ounce of Prevention Is Worth ... $15 Billion?," Theodore R. Marmor, KPCC, March 29, 2010.
Guest on Air Talk, KPCC, November 25, 2009.
Publications
"Fads, Fallacies, and Foolishness in Medical Care Management and Policy" (World Scientific Press, 2007, paperback 2009).
Addresses the distortions of pro-market and marketing rhetoric, the pursuit of policy panaceas, and reasons for repeated disappointment from policy proposals that confuse aspiration with doability.
"Understanding Social Insurance: Fairness, Affordability, and the ‘Modernization’ of Social Security and Medicare" (with ). Health Affairs 25 (2006): w114–w134.
Sets out the fundamentals of social insurance and how they are distorted and misunderstood in so much of American political commentary.
"America’s Misunderstood Welfare State " (with ) (Basic Books, 1990, paperback 1992).
Describes the realities of American social welfare policy by contrast with the myths about Social Security, Medicare, and public assistance that were given greater currency in the 1970s and full expression in the rhetoric of the Reagan years. As relevant to today’s arguments as if written yesterday, especially in connection with the affordability of Social Security retirement pensions.
"The Politics of Medicare " (Transaction Books, 1973).
Portrays how the Medicare program came to be enacted, and, in the second edition, how its politics shifted from disputes about its appropriateness to, in current terms, its affordability.