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Don't cut the safety net to shreds

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The State House News Service (subscription required) reports that The state will lay off more than 300 mental health workers over the next several days, with about 300 more opting to accept voluntary retirements and layoffs as the Department of Mental Health moves forward with its closing of Westborough State Hospital. The fact is the Governor has been cutting deeply into the safety for a long time, and at a rate that is alarming. See my blog on the Governor’s job cuts, which are 75% from safety net programs. In comparison, and I know this is counter-intuitive to some, Governor Romney’s cuts to safety net program jobs in 2005 and 2006 amounted to only 25% of the overall cuts to […]

Creating Jobs: Reforming Unemployment Insurance in Massachusetts

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Author(s): Steve Poftak — Publication date: 2011-02-10 Category: Economic Opportunity Abstract: Pioneer Institute and the Massachusetts High Technology Council are pleased to present a new study that meets this demand: “Creating Jobs: Reforming Unemployment Insurance in Massachusetts.” As the report highlights, Massachusetts’s Unemployment Insurance system – the most generous in the nation in terms of eligibility requirements and benefit duration – is actually inhibiting job creation. The report offers four reform proposals that could generate 10,000 new jobs and $7.5 billion in economic growth over the next decade. [wpdm_package id=53]

CPOE Initiative

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In 2004, the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC), in partnership with New England Healthcare Institute (NEHI), created the Massachusetts Hospital CPOE initiative, a six-year-long campaign to speed adoption of a computer technology that can drastically reduce the scourge of harmful medication errors. The Initative’s groundbreaking research revealed that one in every ten patients in a Massachusetts community hospital suffers a serious but preventable medication error. The finding spurred the Massachusetts Legislature, the state’s private payers and later the US Congress to enact policy changes encouraging or requiring the use of Computerized Physician Order Entry, or CPOE. [wpdm_package id=262]

Health Insurance Cost Control

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The combined use of limited, or slective, provider networks and a defined contribution strategy presents an immediate opportunity for government entities and employer groups to achieve significant and sustainable health insurance savings and reduce medical cost trends, while maintaing coverage leverls and quality of care. Health Insurance Cost Control

A National Market for Individual Health Insurance

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Health insurance markets are regulated by the states under the McCarran-Ferguson Act (15 U.S.C. 1011) of 1945. The ‘purpose clause’ of the Act states that regulation and taxation of the business of insurance by the states is in the public interest. As a result of McCarran-Ferguson, evey health insurer must be licensed in the policyholder’s state of residence. The states have responded with a complex patchwork of mandates and laws that vary widely acrcros the country. [wpdm_package id=260]