As representatives of employers and consumers, we don’t see eye to eye on every health care issue, but we are joining together to urge the governor to follow through on her promise to meaningfully address the unsustainable trajectory of health care costs in the state.
Eileen McAnneny
Posted inOpinion
We need answers on Mass. hospital finances
The Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association reports a $220 million Healthy Safety Net deficit for fiscal year 2025, following $380 million deficits in FY 2023 and 2024, totaling $600 million. It raises the question how exactly are hospitals burning through so much cash?
Posted inOpinion
Three key priorities for reducing health care costs
With the number of people covered by public insurance growing – MassHealth covers about 2 million people, or 30 percent of the Massachusetts population – so too have the cross-subsidies borne by employers, employees, and taxpayers. Given our aging population and the shrinkage of our small group health insurance market, these cross subsidies by the private market will likely grow larger without intervention. Higher Medicaid reimbursement rates to providers could alleviate this cost-shift burden.
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
Here’s how to get people back to work, off unemployment faster
IT IS PROBABLY too early for Gov. Maura Healey to be thinking about her legacy, but we have a suggestion for how she could make her mark on Massachusetts. The governor could employ a new approach to make the state’s workforce training system more accessible, more utilized, and better able to re-employ people quickly. Not […]
Posted inOpinion
Why the top 1 percent of taxpayers matter
DURING A RECENT hearing on Gov. Maura Healey’s tax relief package, there seemed to be near universal support for the provisions aimed at helping people of low or modest means – a family and child dependent deduction, an increase in the renter’s deduction, and the senior property tax circuit breaker. In contrast, several legislators voiced […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
Mass. is losing its competitive edge
IT IS A WELL-ESTABLISHED fact that Massachusetts sits at the top of many lists which rank how we compare to other states – on healthcare, on education, on the economy (not to mention our sports teams). And by many of these measures, we have historically done well. But it is also well known that we […]
Posted inOpinion
The case for reshaping public health
AS THE PRESIDENT of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, I spend a lot of time considering ways to reduce health care costs. In my opinion, the best way to reduce health care costs is not to incur them at all. A well-functioning public health system can be an effective tool for reducing healthcare costs, improving the […]
Posted inOpinion
Setting a baseline for the racial divide
ELIMINATING THE VAST, longstanding racial disparities between Blacks and Latinos and Whites when it comes to jobs, education, wealth, healthcare, incarceration and more isn’t just a matter of moral urgency and justice for Massachusetts and the nation. Closing that racial divide would deliver massive economic and fiscal benefits for the Commonwealth as well. That’s one […]
Posted inOpinion
On budget planning, be cautious
THE MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE’S House Ways and Means Committee will unveil on Wednesday its budget proposal for state fiscal year 2020, which begins on July 1. Their budget document will describe proposals to allocate more than $46 billion in spending for such things as health care benefits for nearly 2 million Massachusetts residents, the opioid epidemic, […]
Posted inTransportation
Five transportation assignments for Legislature
MASSACHUSETTS IS IN THE MIDDLE of a transportation revolution. Uber and Lyft vehicles are as ubiquitous as Dunkins; connected and autonomous vehicles no longer seem futuristic; and Boeing is testing air taxis for deployment within the next five years. All of these developments are fundamentally changing transportation as we know and consume it. Transportation’s transformation […]