Citizens get craps!
"Legislators vow bill to curb health care costs" by Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff / June 28, 2011
State legislative leaders made their strongest statements yet in support of placing significant cost controls on health care, predicting yesterday that they will agree on a bill as early as the fall....
There is a perception among many on Beacon Hill that the issue has gotten caught up in the back and forth negotiations over legalizing gambling, which House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo wants to push forward. The Senate and the governor, meanwhile, need DeLeo on board for meaningful changes in the health care payment system.
I'm so sick of self-serving extortion over there I want to secede.
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About those health costs:
"Some hospitals back price curbs; Say temporary measures will correct market; Partners chief says changes could hurt care" by By Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff / June 29, 2011
Support is building among some Massachusetts hospitals for temporary government limits on health care prices, a remarkable development in an industry that has long favored letting the marketplace determine how much providers are paid for treating patients.
During a second day of hearings on health care costs yesterday, three of four hospital chiefs who testified said government controls on prices are needed to close the wide gap between what insurers pay hospitals and doctors’ groups with the market leverage to demand high prices and what they pay to those without it.
“Fundamentally, I believe in the market,’’ said Andrei Soran, chief executive of MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham. But “the market got out of hand,’’ he said. “Intervention will bring it back to the appropriate level.’’
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"Freeze sought on health insurance rates; Consumer groups plan rally today" by Chelsea Conaboy, Globe Staff / June 30, 2011
As lawmakers and industry leaders toil over plans to fundamentally change how health care is paid for in Massachusetts, two leading consumer groups are asking them to give ratepayers a one-year reprieve from premium increases.
At a noontime rally at the State House today, Health Care for All and the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization plan to call for a 2012 freeze on base premium rates that have jumped sharply in the past decade. The idea is to pressure decision makers, particularly insurers and hospitals, to hash out a long-term plan at a quicker pace.
The Rev. Hurmon Hamilton, president of the interfaith group, said he expects industry leaders to say a freeze is impossible.
“With the same urgency, consumers are saying, ‘We can’t continue to absorb anymore of these increases,’ ’’ he said.
From 2007 to 2009, premiums for private group plans in Massachusetts increased 5 to 10 percent annually, while benefits were reduced, according to a state report....
Partners HealthCare, whose hospitals are among the most expensive in the state, is in talks with major insurers about reopening their contracts, said spokesman Rich Copp.
Related: Memory Hole: Why the Nation Doesn't Need Massachusetts Health Care
The Massachusetts Model: Tax-Exempt Memory Hole
Better see a doctor about that memory.
Renegotiated contracts would help reduce health costs, said Lora Pellegrini, president of the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans.
She said she thinks the consumer groups would have been more effective if their campaign focused on contracts rather than premiums.
A freeze could require some insurers to dip into reserves, said John McDonough, a professor of public health practice at the Harvard School of Public Health and former executive director of Health Care for All.
“What’s a better use of those reserves than to send a signal to everybody that things have to change?’’ he said.
The campaign includes efforts to get consumers to do more themselves to curb medical costs.
It's not like I am opposed to personal responsibility; however, how much more you want to pile on top of the consumer?
And we all know why we can't have a decent, single-payer system like the rest of the industrialized world: $$$$
Over the next several months, the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization plans to roll out programs in its members’ mosques, synagogues, and churches to teach health literacy, encourage exercise, and promote end-of-life planning, among other things.
Hamilton said that the nation is watching to see whether Massachusetts can get health costs under control and that the national health care law, built on the state’s model, will be judged based on the state’s success.
“We’ve got to get it right now,’’ he said. “We don’t have the luxury of more time.’’
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Back to the budget:
"State will miss budget deadline, leaders say" by Michael Levenson, Globe Staff / June 30, 2011
The House and Senate are trying to come to an agreement on a permanent $30.5 billion spending plan. Both chambers have approved versions that include deep cuts to social services and divisive plans to trim local health costs by limiting the collective bargaining rights of teachers, firefighters, and other municipal workers....
Related: New Rules For Unions in Massachusetts
Unions Surrender Rights in Massachusetts
Biden's Boast
And not a peep on the Boston street?
Wall Street credit rating agencies often praise states that consistently deliver on-time budgets and warn investors that states with chronically late budgets may be not be able to capably handle their finances.
Like Wall Street has done such a great job of stewardship?
“It’s just a bad signal to the bond markets and others that do business with the state,’’ said Jay Gonzalez, Governor Deval Patrick’s budget chief....
You SEE WHO the STATE CARES ABOUT, right?
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Yeah, it AIN'T YOU or ME, fellow Bay-Stater.
And one day later?
"Accord reached on state budget; Would limit collective bargaining" by Michael Levenson, Globe Staff / July 1, 2011
House and Senate negotiators reached agreement yesterday on a $30.6 billion state budget that will limit the collective bargaining rights of teachers, police officers, and firefighters in an effort to ease the cost of health insurance for cities and towns....
The budget includes no new taxes and instead cuts deeply across a range of state services, hitting the poor, the elderly, and the disabled....
We already have too many taxes as is for s*** state government, and yet you see who takes the hit here in Democrat(?) Massachusetts.
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Related:
Memory Hole: Massachusetts' State Budget
Massachusetts Sales Tax Swindle
Mass. State Budget: Screwing Cities and Towns
Uniting With Hollywood
Massachusetts Investing in Poverty For Profit
Massachusetts Mellons
How many services would $317,000 for the poor, elderly, or disabled buy, dear readers?
Or the $100 million paying of Big Dig debt?
Or the who-knows-how-many millions going to Hollywood this year?
