Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) on Monday met with health care industry executives to request that they address rising health care costs or potentially face new government regulations, the Boston Globe reports. During the meeting, which came in response to recent articles by the Globe’s Spotlight Team about the cost of medical care, Patrick said [...]
More than 44,000 Massachusetts seniors must pay larger prescription drug copayments as a result of an $11 million cut to the state Prescription Advantage program, which provides copay assistance for seniors who meet an income-eligibility requirement, the Boston Globe reports. The cut, which was part of Gov. Deval Patrick’s (D) $1 billion state budget reduction [...]
Coverage of 26 health benefits mandated under Massachusetts’ health insurance law account for 12 cents of every $1 paid for health insurance, and statewide, the mandates cost about $1.3 billion annually, according to a report released on Monday by the state Division of Health Care Finance and Policy, the Boston Globe reports. The report was [...]
WebMemo examines Massachusetts Medicaid Waiver, and NEJM perspective discusses mental health parity legislation.
* “Health Care Reform in Massachusetts: Medicaid Waiver Renewal Will Set a Precedent,” Heritage Foundation: The WebMemo examines the renewal of Massachusetts’ 1115 Medicaid demonstration project waiver, which expired on June 30 but has been extended until July 14. [...]
Two years after the implementation of a health care reform law aimed at providing affordable health insurance coverage for nearly all Massachusetts residents, public support for the law remains high. According to a new poll by the Harvard School of Public Health and the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, over two-thirds (69%) of [...]
There arenot enough primary care physicians in Massachusettsto meet the demand for care created by the state’s health insurance law,according to health care reform advocates and medical professionals, the Boston Globe reports. Jon Kingsdale, executive director ofthe Commonwealth Health InsuranceConnector Authority,said that as of Jan.1, about 340,000 state residents, most of whom hadpreviously been uninsured, [...]
Proponents of the Massachusetts health insurance law “underestimated costs and overestimated revenue,” which has “obliged the state to spend more to subsidize insurance” to keep the “law’s promises,” Alan Sager and Deborah Socolar, directors of the Health Reform Program at the Boston University School of Public Health, write in a Boston Globe opinion piece. The [...]
“Gearing up for 2009, liberals are eager to claim Massachusetts as a Valhalla of health reform,” and their “enthusiasm is apparently evidence-proof,” a Wall Street Journal editorial states. Gov. Deval Patrick (D) “wheeled out a new $129 million tax plan to make up for this year’s health spending shortfalls,” but “partisans are cheering the cost [...]
CMS on Monday announced that it has granted Massachusetts a third extension on a Medicaid waiver that would allow the state to divert $385 million in federal funds for the program towards funding for the state’s new health care law, the AP/Boston Globe reports. The current waiver would have expired on June 30, but the [...]
Massachusetts faces an estimated $13.3 billion in unfunded retiree health care costs over the next three decades, according to a report by a commission studying the issue, the Boston Globe reports. The seven-member panel comprises four lawmakers, the state treasurer, the state budget chief and state pension fund chief. Under the current retiree health care [...]