Health Care

Lawmakers reject Baker’s MassHealth cuts

Lawmakers reject Baker’s MassHealth cuts

Legislature says it will come up with a Medicaid savings plan

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STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE HOUSE AND SENATE DEMOCRATS, insisting they needed more time to consider strategies to control cost growth in MassHealth and the broader health care system, turned aside Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposed Medicaid reforms on Wednesday as they worked to return to him a $200 million assessment on employers needed to balance the(...)

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House poised to reject Baker’s MassHealth reforms

House poised to reject Baker’s MassHealth reforms

Administration officials find tough going at legislative hearing

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STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE BAKER ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS on Tuesday urged lawmakers to get on board with reforms to rein in costs at MassHealth, but the House is poised on Wednesday to create a showdown with the governor by sending him back a $200 million package of new employer assessments and unemployment insurance rate relief without(...)

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Time to get MassHealth house in order

Opinion

Time to get MassHealth house in order

Business leaders says improper incentives, guardrails must end

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ELEVEN YEARS AGO, Chapter 58—also known as RomneyCare—was signed into law.  The landmark law was passed on the premise that there was a shared responsibility among all of us to be insured, offer affordable coverage, control costs, and to eliminate free riders in the system.  It was also passed with the promise that the Commonwealth will make it(...)

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Defending MassHealth reforms

Opinion

Defending MassHealth reforms

Package preserves, doesn't walk away from, universal health care

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MASSACHUSETTS HAS A LONG TRADITION of bipartisan health care reform.  Our outside-of-the-box thinking, willingness to be nimble as Washington dynamics shift, and resolve to embrace change are critical components in honoring our collective commitment to near universal health care coverage. Since passage of our state health care reform in 2006 and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Massachusetts has achieved the highest rate of health care(...)

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Baker trying to have it both ways

Opinion

Baker trying to have it both ways

Opposes Medicaid cuts in Washington, but backs them here

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GOV. CHARLIE BAKER has publicly criticized Republican efforts in Washington, DC, to roll back health coverage provided by the Affordable Care Act. He rightly argues that such changes will have tremendously negative effects on the health care of hundreds of thousands of people in Massachusetts, our economy, and our budget. We commend him for these(...)

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Beth Israel-Lahey merger causing some jitters

Opinion

Beth Israel-Lahey merger causing some jitters

Can this ‘second system’ be a true competitor to Partners?

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USUALLY SUMMERTIME is not chock full of key health care developments and related news stories.  Yes, there is always the strategic late August regulatory filings from our hospitals, where annual CEO salaries are published—with hospitals hoping that most people are away on vacation and not reading newspapers. But, clearly, this summer is different.  The circus(...)

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What’s the rush on Medicaid reform?

Opinion

What’s the rush on Medicaid reform?

Baker’s proposals deserve thorough, careful review

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IN THE SUMMER OF 1972, then-governor Frank Sargent announced a series of steps to gain control over the escalating costs of the Medicaid program, which had been launched only a few years earlier. The annual costs were about $500 million. Nine governors and almost half a century later, with annual costs now at $16 billion,(...)

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No popular options for repeal or replace

No popular options for repeal or replace

'Repeal and delay' just as unpopular as GOP health care bill

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WELL, THAT DIDN’T take long. Less than 24 hours after conservative senators Jerry Moran and Mike Lee joined Rand Paul and Susan Collins in opposing the Senate’s “repeal and replace” health care bill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s “repeal and delay” plan B crashed almost before it got off the ground. The public polling suggest(...)

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Getting to yes on MassHealth

Opinion

Getting to yes on MassHealth

State leaders need to work together to tackle Medicaid challenge

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MASSACHUSETTS HAS A unique culture when it comes to health care.  Over the last quarter century, we have seen the business, provider, payer, consumer, and academic sectors come together to advance reforms aimed at expanding coverage and containing the cost of care. Whether it was repeal of hospital rate-setting and passing insurance reforms in the(...)

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