"Mass. medical leaders wary of healthcare overhaul’s cost" by Robert Weisman, Globe Staff | July 28, 2009
If you want to know how the proposed overhaul of the US healthcare system may play out nationally, talk to top executives at the biggest medical and life sciences companies in Massachusetts.
As the heads of leading hospitals, insurers, and biotechnology companies, they have dealt with the complexities of near-universal healthcare since 2006, when Massachusetts became the first state to mandate insurance coverage. That gives them a unique perspective on the national effort to overhaul healthcare.
How about some single-payer voices? That sure would be unique!
As the debate in Washington heats up, local executives warn that two goals of the Obama administration - expanding insurance coverage and controlling spending - may prove incompatible.
Yeah, especially when there are PROFITS at stake!
And as Massachusetts strains to deal with the increasing costs of its successful healthcare program, they raise questions about who will pay for the projected $1 trillion cost on the federal level.
The jury still out on the "success," Glob.
And here's who will pay and why.
Ellen M. Zane, president of Tufts Medical Center in Boston:
“Healthcare isn’t free....’’
But it should be.
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Most Massachusetts business leaders agree the healthcare system needs major surgery. But they have their own particular concerns about the impact of proposed healthcare changes on their organizations’ health, underscoring how difficult it will be to reach consensus.
Hospitals and doctors say that lower federal reimbursements could hurt the quality of medical care, while insurers chafe at a proposed government-run health plan they argue would put them at a competitive disadvantage....
Massachusetts life sciences companies worry about unintended consequences.
My focus for those is PREVENTING WARS!!!
Trimming budgets at teaching hospitals could crimp their ability to collaborate with researchers on medical devices and biotech drugs, executives said.
Also see: The Massachusetts Model: Mass. Hospitality
For medical-device makers, there is the added concern that expanded healthcare could be financed partly by taxing their products....
Yeah, the ONLY TIME it is NOT a concern is when it is the TAXPAYER being taxed!
US drug companies [are] wary about price controls on drugs. Companies say they depend on high profits to cover research and development.
Unless they get some tax loot, but....
That’s especially true of biologic drugs - costly treatments made from living cells that have allowed Massachusetts’ biotech sector to grow....
Even though it is contracting, sigh.
Related: Biotech Giveaway Was Borrowed Money
At the same time, biotech and medical-device makers say the focus on cost savings could hinder their ability to develop life-saving drugs and innovative devices. Details have yet to emerge on the healthcare plan....
I'm SOOOOOOO TIRED of CORPORATE WHINERS!!!!
For insurers, the biggest stumbling block is a government insurance plan, proposed by President Obama as an alternative to private insurers.
Cleve L. Killingsworth, chairman of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, based in Boston:
“Proponents say it will add a level of competition, but when you’re introducing a plan that doesn’t have to make a [profit] and can go to the Treasury to get bailed out, you’re creating an unlevel playing field.’’
TELL IT to the BANKS, a**hole!
Related: Health Care Honey Pot
That is the KIND of BAILOUT I WANT!!
A HEALTH BAILOUT!
Ray Elliott, who took over this month as president of Boston Scientific Corp., a Natick maker of stents, defibrillators, and other medical equipment:
“We have to make sure that, in making changes, we don’t damage patient outcomes or innovation.’’
Related: Scientific Swindles
Henri A. Termeer, chief executive of the Cambridge-based biotech Genzyme Corp."
“If they do this in a way that interrupts the innovation cycle, that would be a very high cost.’’
Your drugs already cost too much!
Related: The Lies of Genzyme
The Needs of Genzyme Outweigh the Needs of All
--more--"
And so do you:
State officials yesterday unveiled plans to tighten their oversight of pay and other practices at nonprofit health care companies in Massachusetts, a move that promises to shine a spotlight on health insurers and hospitals at a time of rising medical costs.
The initiative was outlined by Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office, which regulates nonprofit and charitable health organizations, in a memo to the state’s major health insurers, and a trade group representing hospitals.
Coakley’s office has long examined compensation at specific nonprofits. But it broadened its inquiry last year after learning Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the state’s largest nonprofit health plan, made a $16.4 million lump-sum retirement benefit payment to former chairman and chief executive William C. Van Faasen....
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Related: The Massachusetts Model: Care-Keeping Costs
You just saw one.
