THE PIONEER BLOG

Editorial Staff

Moving the Needle on Healthcare Cost Containment & Reform

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Today, Pioneer Institute submitted recommendations to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Special Senate Committee on Health Care Cost Containment and Reform. Pioneer applauds provisions of the proposed legislation that would reduce emergency room use and re-admissions, expand scope of practice, and embrace telemedicine. The Committee should also be commended for looking to other states’ accomplishments in this area. But the current bill raises some concerns. In some instances, we believe it diminishes the potential for greater cost savings by adding unnecessary regulatory burdens. The projected savings relative to 2020 spending are quite modest, at less than 0.2 percent. The Medicaid buy-in program as it is presented is a radical change from the existing program structure – it will require more elaboration […]

Josh Beck

Underfunding OPEB – A Losing Strategy

/0 Comments/in , /by Josh Beck

In addition to pensions, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and its municipalities also provide their retirees with other post-employment benefits (OPEB), mostly in the form of retiree healthcare and life insurance. While these benefits have existed for many decades, the programs have not been sufficiently funded. As of June 2016, the best estimate is that the promised benefits are unfunded by $46.7 billion statewide. Public employees who reach 10 years of service are entitled to receive a predefined set of benefits upon retirement. State retirees are entitled to life insurance and 80 percent of their healthcare costs from retirement to age 65, at which point they are transitioned to Medicare. At age 65, jurisdictions also subsidize supplemental Medicare coverage.  The state […]

Editorial Staff

Join us 11/13: “Witnessing Hope: Cristo Rey Schools & Catholic Education”

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As the country is engaged in a national discussion about equality of educational opportunity, school choice, and religious freedom, join us at a public forum featuring nationally recognized experts on Catholic leadership and schooling, that will highlight a successful model of Catholic high school education. Date: November 13, 2017 Time: 8:30 am – 11:00 am Location: Omni Parker House Hotel, 60 School Street, Boston, MA Register Now  

Ciana Bonfiglioli

Everett on the Rise

/1 Comment/in , , , , , , , , , /by Ciana Bonfiglioli

This year, the City of Everett is celebrating its 125th anniversary. Since its founding, the city has evolved in a number of ways, and new challenges have accompanied the shifts in its character. Historically a largely industrial blue-collar town, Everett is increasingly becoming a first choice for young professionals seeking housing outside the skyrocketing prices of Boston proper. One of Everett’s main goals is linked to development—specifically, tapping into potential that hasn’t yet been utilized to overcome barriers such as the city’s isolation, issues with transit access, and slower rates of commercial and community development and re-development. Thus far, there are a number of positive signs about Everett’s effort to transform its weaker points into strengths in the areas listed […]

Editorial Staff

Is it time to expand water transportation in Greater Boston?

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A recent Pioneer Institute report explored the benefits of increased investment in the MBTA’s water-based public transportation service to meet the growing demand among commuters in Massachusetts’ coastal communities. In the brief video clip below, Pioneer Institute Research & Policy Associate Matt Blackbourn shares key findings from this report, which he co-authored with Pioneer Research Director Greg Sullivan, regarding ferry service performance and costs compared to other MBTA transit modes and peer agencies across the country. Click the button below to read the report, and the video player below that to watch the clip. Recent media coverage: This report received extensive media attention, including radio coverage on WGBH and WBUR. Click on the links below: The Boston Herald: “Study suggests […]

Editorial Staff

Don’t Stop the Momentum on T Reform

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Today, Pioneer Institute submits testimony in support of MBTA bus maintenance and management reform at a hearing of the Massachusetts State Senate Committee on Post Audit and Oversight. The MBTA is proposing to outsource bus maintenance at 3 of its 9 garages, a practice which has been successful at regional transit authorities across the state. The proposal would have minimal impact on the agency’s mechanics, who would remain in the Machinists’ union; but would free the T to make needed management improvements currently prohibited by contracts that limit the duties of Supervisors. Modernization of business practices as a result of the proposal could save taxpayers $11 million per year. Studies have found opportunities for improvement in the operation’s software system, […]

Ciana Bonfiglioli

To Sign or Not to Sign? Considerations for University Athletics Contracts

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by Ciana Bonfiglioli

Collegiate sports continue to grow as an enormous commercial enterprise nationwide, and this increasing popularity has presented lucrative opportunities for participating schools. The allegiance fans have for ‘their school’ has become a reliable source of revenue for many colleges and universities, many of which have seen viewership and interest in their athletic programs explode over the last few decades. NCAA football attendance has more than doubled from slightly over 35 million fans in 1996 to well over 45 million fan in 2006, and more than 49 million fans in 2016. As the fan base has grown, so has the accompanying revenue stream. The growing number of viewers has blossomed into a highly profitable opportunity for companies such as adidas, Under […]

Editorial Staff

Creating Space for Healthcare Innovators in the Marketplace

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Pioneer Institute’s initiatives in healthcare focus on three goals.  We promote price transparency, essential in containing costs and increasing access to care. We aim to put state programs like Medicaid on a more sustainable path and create flexibility so the programs provide higher-quality care and access to care, which too often outside greater Boston is not the case. Pioneer’s third goal is to ensure that the market continues to benefit from innovation, whether in the delivery of healthcare services or in the development of new cures. Today, the Institute is pleased to submit testimony to the Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Health in support of expanded access to oral care. The testimony focuses on why allowing dental therapists to […]

Ciana Bonfiglioli

Managing Growth in Malden & Somerville: A Tale of Two Cities

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The influx of new residents into Boston and its surrounding communities has put growing pressure on the area’s housing stock. Just recently the median home price in Massachusetts broke $400,000, and there aren’t enough units available to meet the demand among natives, let alone newcomers. Boston’s satellite communities experience greater pressure than towns further out—and the cities that sit just on the periphery of Boston have chosen to address the housing crunch in different ways. Malden and Somerville are two illustrative examples. The cities have some situational and physical similarities—both are relatively close to downtown Boston and have roughly the same number of transit stops. However, the two municipalities view future growth and long-term outcomes quite differently. By a number […]

Matt Blackbourn

Regulatory reform of the taxi industry is long overdue

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by Matt Blackbourn and Holly Raiborn

If the events of the last several months are any indication, Uber’s future is not as certain as public sentiment might have suggested a year ago. But even though the company has taken hits on a number of fronts, Uber and other transportation network companies (TNCs) will continue to have the upper hand in the ride-for-hire market unless a number of restrictions on taxis are eliminated. 2017 has been a year of endless public relations nightmares for Uber. Beyond scandals and hits to the firm’s image, trouble has also been brewing on the financial front. The ride-hailing company has been hemorrhaging money in its battle with competitors to be consumers’ top TNC option. In 2016 the transportation giant incurred annual […]

Editorial Staff

METCO’s 50th Anniversary Focuses Attention on Pioneer’s Call to Expand & Improve the Program

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The recent 50th anniversary of the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO) has drawn attention to the program, which gives about 3,300 Boston and Springfield students the chance to attend high-performing suburban schools, and to findings from two Pioneer Institute studies about METCO. One of the Pioneer studies was cited in a lengthy feature on The 74, an education news site, and a July 31 Boston Globe editorial echoed Pioneer’s recommendations. These include that the state commission a gold-standard study to compare the performance of METCO students to those who remain on the waitlist and reform the program to make processes, like the one used to move children off the 9,000-student waitlist, more transparent and accountable. Both publications noted that […]

Rebekah Paxton

The Crazy World of College Presidential Salaries Part 3: Comparing Presidential Salaries with State College & University Success Rates

/0 Comments/in /by Rebekah Paxton

  While many factors influence state university presidential pay rates, there isn’t always a correlation between those rates and student outcomes. Ideally, a university president would have a portion of his or her salary tied to student outcomes such as improved retention and graduation rates. To see how Massachusetts state colleges and universities stack up, we reviewed the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education online data tool. Graduation Rates Figure 1 below depicts each state college and university’s latest four- and six-year graduation rates. This data describes the 2009 cohort of students, i.e. those entering the school in the fall of 2009. Had they completed their studies in four years they would have graduated in 2013, and would have graduated in […]

Barbara Anthony

Time for Boston to open up to limited service clinics

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As a little girl I have a dim memory of my mother taking me to a medical “dispensary” in what was then not-very-trendy East Boston. I remember it being really convenient; it was just down the street from where we lived, had short wait times, and a nominal cost, if any at all. This was during a time when physicians made home visits. I guess my mother couldn’t reach our family doctor, so off to the dispensary we went. Medical dispensaries—we might call them “clinics” —were quite common in Boston beginning in the early 1800s. (That is not when I went!) Most were operated as charities for people who could not afford private physicians or were not sick enough for […]

Josh Beck

How Do Alternative Investments Stack up in State Pensions?

/0 Comments/in /by Josh Beck

There are numerous expert opinion on the proper investment strategy for public pension funds. In 2012, the Pioneer Institute’s Ilya Atanasov cited concerns about risk and subpar returns in recommending that public pension funds divest from certain complex alternative including private equity and hedge funds. Instead, Atanasov suggested funds invest in safer, more stable assets such as fixed income securities and even holding some portion of assets in gold and cash-equivalents as a hedge against market volatility. Today, private equity and other alternative investments constitute an ever-larger portion of asset portfolios. Hedge funds and private equity as of March 2017 make up 19.2% of the Pension Reserves Investment Trust (PRIT), which manages assets for Massachusetts state pensions. This is a […]

Rebekah Paxton

The Crazy World of College Presidential Salaries Part 2: A Deeper Look

/2 Comments/in , , /by Rebekah Paxton

Part 1 of this blog series on MA state colleges and universities addressed presidents’ salaries since 2010. In general, although public funding for MA higher education institutions—specifically the state college and non-UMass university system—is decreasing, university presidents received annual raises, and sometimes very large raises and expensive buyouts. The picture is a bit murky, though, because of the various challenges faced each of the nine schools in the system. So how does each school measure up? For context, Figure 1 presents an overview of how much the presidents of each college and university earned payroll in 2016. ‘Salary Rate’ refers to the annualized base rate at which the president was paid, while ‘Total Pay’ represents the net amount each received, […]