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Maine Moving on Health Care

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An interesting experiment is about to be unleashed in one of our neighbors to the north–Maine. The newly Republican controlled House and Senate are moving quickly (too quickly for some) to strip away state regulations and mandates that were put in place over the past two decades and open up the individual and small group insurance market to more competition. The bill, among many things, will allow individuals to purchase insurance from companies licensed in other states (including Massachusetts.) And it will permit the price differential that insurers can charge sicker residents when compared to healthier residents to grow. Maine currently only allows a very narrow ratio of 1.5 to 1. The current law translates into healthier (mostly younger) folks […]

Another Department of Public Safety Issue

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This space has raised questions in the past about the staffing levels and performance at the Department of Public Safety. Several years ago, then Auditor DeNucci found that 30% of elevators in the state had expired inspection stickers. Following the death of a child at a mall due to an accident on an escalator, there has been increased scrutiny of the department. Now, after a review of escalators across the state, there comes news that the two inspectors who certified that mall escalator are to be fired, six will be suspended for five days, and 26 will be reprimanded. Depending on whose numbers you believe, there are either 51 or 57 inspectors in the department. That means that between 60% […]

Massachusetts Medicaid “Savings” in Trouble?

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The New York Times reports In a new effort to increase access to health care for poor people, the Obama administration is proposing a rule that would make it much more difficult for states to cut Medicaid payments to doctors and hospitals. I wonder if this will impact Governor Patrick and the Legislature’s reduction in reimbursement levels included in the FY 12 budget? If yes, there goes another chunk of the $1 billion in projected “savings”–making the near-impossible prediction of reducing per enrollee spending by 3.5% this year all that more improbable. See Poftak’s Do You Believe in Medicaid Miracles? This is also an interesting move from the Obama Administration as the Secretary of HHS recently advised states to use […]

Dear Abigail on History

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In what is a textbook example of bad policy on the teaching of history, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is signaling that it has no intention of instituting the MCAS requirement for US History. Currently, the state tests students on three subjects–English Language Arts, Mathematics and Science. In 2009, the US History MCAS requirement was to go into place and three years later, in 2012, graduates were supposed to have passed it. Cue the primary source material–the relevant provision in the regulations (603 CMR 30.03 (4)): (4) Students starting with the graduating class of 2012, in addition to meeting the requirements contained in 603 CMR 30.02(2) and (3), shall meet or exceed the Needs Improvement scaled […]

Fight of the Century

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Education does not only take place in our schools, though we often get caught up debating the merit of governance schemes for our bricks-and-mortar institutions. That is important. While I think digital learning is going to transform our concepts of school and learning, I also think the role of the teacher (the “master” in a way), the adult who hands off a tradition, will always be preserved. The relationship between a kid (and of course even an adult) and a teacher is a special one, which is why we spend so much time, ink and treasure trying to make sure we have effective ones. It’s also why we often have debates (and residual distrust) about things like distance learning, blended […]