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A Defense of the Evergreen Solar Deal?
/2 Comments/in Blog, News /byOur friends at Commonwealth Magazine have put out an intriguing ‘Back Story’ regarding Evergreen Solar. But their article rests on a few shaky assumptions. First, they try to frame the discussion as a ‘Romney invested’ versus ‘Patrick invested’ story. To be sure, both were Governor when investments were made in Evergreen Solar and both bear some responsibility as leaders. But there’s a material difference between a $2.5m commitment by a single quasi-public entity controlled by a board (with a majority appointed by the Governor, although its not clear if Romney controlled those appointments when the investment was made) and a $50m+ series of commitments across six state agencies and quasi-publics that was quarterbacked by the Secretary of Economic Development. I’m […]
Vocational-technical schools that work
/3 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Education, Blog: School Choice, Jim Stergios, News, Related Education Blogs /byA week ago, parents in Boston got their school assignments according to the Boston Public Schools’ constrained choice process. Stephanie Ebbert’s article captured the key moment this way: In a downtown office cubicle, next to a file cabinet topped with a philodendron in a wine carafe, a Boston public schools computer specialist dispassionately clicked a mouse. It was 10:11 on a Friday morning. By 10:18, the computer program had silently assigned nearly 12,000 students to 134 city schools… The following afternoon, that clean, algorithmic efficiency sent waves of emotion rippling through neighborhoods all across the city. Chrissanta Rudder jumped up and down in the hallway of the Old Colony public housing development in South Boston. Kimesha Janey-Rogers of Roxbury sighed […]
Labor leader in a glass house
/0 Comments/in Blog, Healthcare /byTalk about throwing stones from a glass house. Robert Haynes, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO played the predictable, tired class envy card in response to the recent report by the Boston Foundation and Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation on the “gilded” health plans enjoyed by municipal workers. Haynes didn’t dispute or even address any of the statistics in the report, which showed municipal workers receive health coverage averaging 37 percent sweeter than those in the private sector. He couldn’t challenge the report on the merits. So instead he went on about how much money the heads of the report’s two sponsoring groups, Paul Grogan at the Boston Foundation and Michael Widmer at MTF, were making. This would be the same Robert Haynes, […]
We’re #43!
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byThose with long memories will recall the days of the campaign when CNBC’s ranking of Massachusetts as the 5th best state to do business in was widely touted. To be sure, all these rankings are highly dependent on the underlying methodology — CNBC emphasized education and quality of life strongly, so Massachusetts did well. Well, another ranking has come down the pike, from the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council. They emphasize tax policy and regulation heavily. And Massachusetts does not do so well — ranking 43rd out of 51 states (and DC). Roll that in with the CEO magazine ranking (47th!) and the Tax Foundation ranking (32nd), and there may be a message there.
Governor’s Pep Rally on Health Care Cost Containment
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Healthcare, News /byGovernor Patrick held an informational briefing on cost containment. The problem is that all things are not equal — insurance premiums are rising at an unsustainable rate…I am a private marketeer, not a market fundamentalist. I don’t think the market always gets it right and I don’t think the market has gotten it right in this case. I heard nothing new from the Administration, only the same unwavering faith in their ability to manage and regulate the marketplace. I am not sure what the next step is, as the Governor’s bill calls for the details for payment reform and cost containment to form in the regulatory arena, and I don’t believe the Legislature will give that sort of power to […]
Proven reforms for urban students
/2 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Education, Blog: School Choice, Jim Stergios, News, Related Education Blogs /byThere are no silver bullets. In education, our landmark 1993 education reform act was testimony to that dictum, laying out a blueprint based on high academic standards, accountability for teachers and districts, testing for students, and innovation through charter schools. That said, there are those who believe in complicated processes and those who are more decentralizing in how they think about reform. Count me among the latter–and that’s why I have always found parental choice, tying money to the child not the system, and clear rules about school flexibility and accountability interesting. Each of these principles helps create the conditions and incentives for engaging parents, which I think is a crucial pressure point (and frankly the more they are engaged, […]
Gilded benefits clash with ‘fair share’
/0 Comments/in Blog, Healthcare, News /byPublic employee unions leaders love to talk about “fair share” when they are trying to score even sweeter contracts than the ones they enjoy now. It is the classic class envy diversion – it can’t be fair if anybody out there is making more than they are. If the idle rich just paid their fair share in taxes, then there would be plenty of money for government to pay their hard-working members bigger raises and provide even better benefits. It doesn’t seem to occur to them that most rich people got that way by working hard. But that is a topic for another post. What is interesting here is that in the long-overdue focus on public employee health benefits, you […]
A way to bend the cost curve up
/2 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, Healthcare /byMinimum staffing provisions in public sector union contracts – largely in police and fire departments – are a major reasons those services are so expensive. They lead to massive, unnecessary overtime costs and are easily abused – it is simple for a worker to call in sick so a friend can pick up some extra OT. It also turns the proper relationship of manager and worker on its head – employees, not management, dictate how many people are required to do a task. The union, naturally, wants as many people as possible on a task, a vehicle, a shift. It undermines efficiency and productivity, by design. Gov. Deval Patrick and state legislators, who huff and puff about “bending the cost […]
Health Care Econ-101 For Governor
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Healthcare, Healthcare /byDuring an appearance on WTKK-FM today, Governor Patrick dipped his toe into the uncompensated care pool controversy that has been splashed over the pages of The Boston Herald. Here and here. Some highlights (lowlights) from the Inspector General’s report that sparked the stories have been: $7 million on care for non-Massachusetts residents. Claims were paid out for patients with home addresses in 48 other states, and a handful of foreign countries. $17.8 million for more than 60,000 “medically unlikely” or “medically unnecessary” claims, such as foot X-ray charges for patients suffering from headaches. Suspicious claims for gender-specific procedures for members of the opposite gender. (Such as gynecological bills for men) $6 million for 13,000 duplicate claims. 45% of those seeking […]
CMS Ignites ACO (Accountable Care Organizations) Debate
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Healthcare, Healthcare /byToday the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released long awaited proposed regulations for accountable care organizations (ACOs). Under the federal Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), ACOs– which are associations made up of groups of health care providers—can share Medicare savings derived from improvements in care. In CMS administrator Don Berwick’s own words: The creation of ACOs is one of the first delivery-reform initiatives that will be implemented under the ACA [the national Affordable Care Act]. Its purpose is to foster change in patient care so as to accelerate progress toward a three-part aim: better care for individuals, better health for populations, and slower growth in costs through improvements in care. Under the law, an ACO will assume responsibility for […]
Medicaid’s Drug Problem: $329 million a year
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Healthcare, Healthcare /byI have blogged before about the problems that we have here in Massachusetts with our exploding Medicaid costs (here, here, here)– roughly 40% of the budget this year. Alex Brill at American Enterprise Institute (AEI) updated a working paper titled Overspending on Multi-Source Drugs in Medicaid that brings attention to one of those cost drivers –the elevated use of multi-source drugs in Medicaid. Multi-source drugs are prescription drugs that are available in both brand and generic form. While the title may not draw in many readers outside of the health policy community, it highlights a very important issue that does (and will continue) to impact state budgets for years to come. The recently enacted Affordable Care Act (ACA or Obamacare) […]
Teacher pensions: Answering Your Questions
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byLast week, I blogged on teacher pensions and the piece drew agreement and criticism. In response to critics, I’ll let the numbers speak for themselves. Today, I wanted to continue the conversation by following up on the good questions raised by commenters. How much do teachers’ salaries go up on average? Berkman34 and ChuckinMedford asked about the assumption of a 4.69 percent annual increase in salaries that underpins my average salary number for 2011. There are a few things to say on this which can be helpful. First, the 4.69 percent increase is simply what empirically happened between 2004 and 2009, which were also difficult fiscal years, and years in which municipal aid from the state was not seeing the […]
FactCheck.org: ‘RomneyCare’ Facts and Falsehoods
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Healthcare, Healthcare, News /byA reporter from FactCheck.org visited Pioneer’s office a couple of weeks ago to learn more about the Massachusetts health reform law. Without a doubt this will be a big issue in the 2012 presidential campaign. I give the Annenberg Public Policy Center at UPenn and their FactCheck.org project credit for attempting to get ahead of the curve here. A few thoughts on the article: More Research Needed: There are still a lot of unknowns in Massachusetts. The data in the state is improving but much is still unclear. Pioneer has attempted to capture key metric in its Report Card Series. Interim Report Cards on Massachusetts Health Care Reform A) Increasing Access B) Equitable and Sustainable Financing C) Administrative Efficiency D) […]
Relearning the Lesson
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byIts been painful to watch the situation with Transportation Secretary Mullan play out over the past two weeks. As an observer of transportation in this state, I have had the opportunity to interact with him and he’s been gracious enough to appear at one of our events. I’ve found him to be smart, knowledgeable, and dedicated. Further, given two false starts at the position and the importance of managing major structural reforms, the administration could ill-afford another transition at the Secretary level. So its been painful to watch as we review the same painful lesson once again: its not the ‘crime’, its the coverup. The inability to get a story straight on a hot button issue related to the Big […]
Obamacare superstar sales team goes missing
/0 Comments/in Blog, Healthcare /byHere’s yet more evidence that, in the year since Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid presided over the ramming of Obamacare through Congress, the dust has yet to settle – the Democratic superstars who were supposed to be trumpeting its virtues are in hiding. Jennifer Haberkorn has a piece on Politico noting that the Health Information Campaign, launched with great fanfare last June, is all but defunct. Wal-Mart Watch founder Andrew Grossman unveiled the Health Information Campaign with great fanfare last June. Tom Daschle and Ted Kennedy’s widow, Vicki, were expected to lead the effort. They’d have help from former White House Communications Director Anita Dunn. They’d have an office in Washington with 10 or 15 operatives backing the Affordable Care Act […]