MORE ARTICLES
NYT’s Anupreeta Das on Bill Gates, Microsoft, & Tech BillionairesAugust 28, 2024 - 12:03 pm
Harris’ Tax Vision: Policy & PoliticsAugust 27, 2024 - 3:23 pm
Poll: State Voters Overwhelmingly Support Ending Public Records Exemption, Auditing the LegislatureAugust 26, 2024 - 10:45 am
National Alliance’s Starlee Coleman on Public Charter SchoolsAugust 21, 2024 - 1:14 pm
How Has Employment Changed In Massachusetts?August 20, 2024 - 4:03 pm
How Has Transportation Been Changing In Massachusetts?August 20, 2024 - 2:31 pm
Digital Privacy Divide: Can Law Enforcement Google Where You’ve Been?August 20, 2024 - 11:40 am
American Bar Association Elects President of the Pioneer Law Center as Vice Chair of Judicial DivisionAugust 20, 2024 - 9:30 am
Pioneer Institute: 340B Hospitals Does Not Necessarily Translate to Charity CareAugust 19, 2024 - 12:49 pm
Wrap Up of the Massachusetts Legislative Session – Or Is It??August 14, 2024 - 1:53 pm
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Murray’s Healthcare Moment
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, Economic Opportunity, Healthcare, News /byThe prospect for dynamic reform on Beacon Hill seemed slight a week ago. New initiatives seemed to be breaking down in a familiar pattern — Governor proposes ‘bold, new’ (expensive) initiative, Legislature promises ‘careful, in-depth’ review (and plenty of revisions. Then, Senate President Murray gave her speech at Wednesday’s Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce meeting. She proposed the following: 1) Public hearings to document the causes of premium increases above 7 percent 2) Realigning of payment methodologies to encourage quality and efficiency, not just the volume of services provided. 3) Increased recruitment of primary care providers 4) Allowing nurse practitioners to serve as PCPs for some patients 5) Permit “limited service clinics” proposed by the Department of Public Health. 6) […]
Fixin for a fight
/0 Comments/in Blog, News, Related Education Blogs /by Scott W. Graves and Micaela DawsonThe Governor has frequently talked about his openness to lifting the cap on charter schools, but only with a financing fix, which certainly means reducing the funding to charters below the average per-pupil expenditures within the district school system. Say community X spends $10K per student in the traditional district schools, the new formula would halve that amount for parents of kids in the district who choose to go to a charter school. That’s what the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents and Mass Association of School Committees want. The Governor has shown openness to this view, which of course makes charters financially unviable. I’ve often wondered about this proposal given all the court cases out there pushing for equitable funding […]
Home of the Bean, the Cod, and the Free Glass of Tap Water
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, Economic Opportunity, News /byAs much of the Sun Belt dries up, we may have to revise our tally of regional economic advantages. For generations we’ve been told to flee the Northeast for some air-conditioned car-ported open-shop Elysium. Today, though, the Quabbin Reservoir is making me feel like an early-’70s Alaskan. If we get our water-policy act together, the Commonwealth’s natural resources may, for the first time since the whale-oil days, actually give us a competitive edge. Please, though: no pipelines.
Dear critic, Do you or don’t you
/0 Comments/in Blog, Healthcare, News /by Scott W. Graves and Micaela Dawsonsupport the Massachusetts Health Care Reform? We get the question all the time, especially from other think tanks and national press outlets trying to figure out what this all means as the presidential election starts to show signs of life. (When presumed frontrunners of each party start hammering on each other, you know the line-up is soon to winnow down.) At the end of the day, Pioneer supports whatever will lead to better health care outcomes and contain the rising cost of care. It’s an empirical question, or to put it more colloquially, the proof is in the pudding. And anyone who’s been an in-patient knows it’s hard to be patient with what passes for dessert in the hospital. (Do […]
Brunch in Boston
/0 Comments/in Blog, Related Education Blogs /by Scott W. Graves and Micaela DawsonBrunch in Boston – or anywhere really – is a time to get caught up and let the conversation meander. No policy or politics this morning. Just some thoughts on kids, grey hair and Engelbert Humperdink. My brunch partner has an issue with America and its cultural decline. I know this is a broad and ugly topic, and it has gotten to the point where some blame our cultural loss for the Islamic Fundamentalist movement’s fire. Guys, I don’t get it. I mean, my sausage, yogurt and fruit (not a traditional mix, I know) was accompanied by Tom Jones over the wire. First we got the oldies-but-goodies like “What’s new pussycat?” with its deep refrain of Pussycat, pussycat, I love […]