Health Care

Baker’s health care advice to Congress

Opinion

Baker’s health care advice to Congress

Governor backs bipartisanship, cost sharing, insurance mandate

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The following is a transcript of Gov. Charlie Baker’s prepared testimony on Thursday before the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. THANK YOU FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY to provide testimony before the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on Stabilizing Premiums and Helping Individuals in the Individual Insurance Market. Thank you for your willingness(...)

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Drowning out health care

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Amid the chaos that passes for leadership in Washington these days, the fate of health care for millions of people, including in Massachusetts, hangs in the balance as President Trump continues to threaten to withhold subsidies that are the lifeblood for many. Trump’s threats are roiling even the most stable markets such as in the Bay(...)

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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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