Entries by Joshua Archambault

Next Step in Reform: Cost Control

The President & CEO of Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM), an employer association of 6,000 Bay State businesses and institutions, has an interesting piece in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette today that sets the goal line for reform. “We will know the reform works when the same employers who supported a 2006 reform that expanded coverage but did not control costs no longer suffer a sick feeling in the stomach every time they sit down to review premium increases with their health plans. We will know the reform works when employees no longer wonder whether they can afford rising deductibles. And we will know the reform works when the cost of health insurance ceases to be a structural impediment to […]

Feds giving a safety net to Massachusetts’s safety net hospitals?

Two of the most prominent “safety net” hospitals in Massachusetts are facing sizable budget gaps again this year, and are turning to the feds to bail them out. Boston Medical Center (BMC) and Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) have long received, in part because of their emphasis on the under- and uninsured, greater political assistance in propping up their balance sheets. The desired Medicaid waiver amendment would be worth $86 million this year for CHA and $90 million for BMC. These institutions play an important role in Massachusetts, but the new slug of federal dollars undermines the viability of Massachusetts health reform by introducing new annual bailouts. A key accomplishment of the Massachusetts experiment was a deal to leverage public money […]