''It's all tied to the cost of health insurance."

US study finds rise in state's uninsured
Trend underlines need for reform, officials say
By Liz Kowalczyk, Boston Globe Staff, August 31, 2005

The number of Massachusetts residents without health insurance jumped about 10 percent last year, surpassing the growth in the uninsured nationally and raising concerns whether climbing private health insurance premiums are shutting out middle-income workers.

The federal Census Bureau reported yesterday that the number of uninsured residents in Massachusetts grew to 748,000 last year, up by 66,000 people from 2003. Massachusetts healthcare organizations and the state have estimated a smaller number of uninsured -- between 460,000 and 532,000 residents last year.

But consumer advocates and Governor Mitt Romney's administration said that the underlying trend in the Census Bureau's figures is probably accurate.''It's a huge increase and unfortunately it's not a surprise," said John McDonough, executive director of a Boston-based advocacy group, Health Care for All. ''It's all tied to the cost of health insurance."

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Click here to read the Globe's Editorial "Declining Health">

No Action: ConCon Rescheduled

STATE HOUSE NEWS
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION – WEDNESDAY, AUG. 24, 2005

CONVENTION RETURNS: Senators arrived in the House Chamber at 12:56 pm. Sen. Havern of Arlington gaveled the convention to order.

RECESS UNTIL SEPT. 14: At 12:57 pm, the convention adopted Sen. Morrissey’s motion to recess and resume the convention on Wednesday, Sept. 14 at 1 pm.

PLAN FOR DEBATE ON SEPT. 14: After recessing, Sen. Havern returned to the rostrum and said it is the intention of the chair for debate on the calendar to transpire on that day. The sergeant-at-arms then led senators out of the chamber.

Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts Endorses Campaign

We are pleased to announce that Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts has endorsed the Campaign. We appreciate their support and look forward to working with them on this historic campaign. To view the press release click here. Below are some excerpts.

"As the state's leading free-standing provider of reproductive health services for women, Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts is committed to improving access to health care for every resident of Massachusetts. That is why we are so supportive of an amendment that will guarantee all residents of the commonwealth access to affordable health insurance coverage," said Dianne Luby, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts.

“We are grateful and pleased that Planned Parenthood has chosen to add their energy to our efforts to fix the moral and economic crisis surrounding health care in our state once and for all,” said Barbara Roop, co-chair of the HCMC. “While the reform proposals now before the Legislature vary widely, everyone – left, center and right – is now publicly on record as favoring universal coverage. They need a ‘lock in’ to ensure reforms produce the ‘win-win’ outcomes essential to the health and financial stability of Massachusetts residents and the competitiveness of our economy — that's where the health care constitutional amendment comes in.”

“Decades of contribution by this venerated organization have resulted in significant achievements for the health and welfare of this state, particularly for women,” said Dr. John Goodson, co-chair of the HCMC. “Within its vision for the future, Planned Parenthood has proclaimed its desire to secure a future that ensures access to quality health care, education and advocacy for everyone. Their endorsement is further evidence of their unrelenting dedication to do so.”

Towns get creative in trimming costs

Alternate health plans pay off
Towns find new health plans paying off Towns get creative in trimming costs

By Matt Carroll, Boston Globe, August 14, 2005

Municipal governments, staggering under the weight of health insurance costs that have jumped by more than half in the last five years, are experimenting with new ways to contain the budget-busting premiums.

Some communities, such as Milton and Brockton, have decided to set up self-insurance funds. Others, such as Carver, Lakeville, Marion, and Mattapoisett, are bolting from larger insurance pools to create their own group. And in Pembroke, among other towns, employees are being made to pick up more of the cost of their healthcare coverage.

Many officials hope legislation brewing on Beacon Hill will give them more tools to deal with what is often the hottest topic in union contract negotiations.

Senate President Robert E. Travaligni has proposed a bill that would allow local officials to set the percentage of medical costs paid by union employees, bypassing contentious contract negotiations. The legislation is strongly opposed by unions, resistance that leaves some town officials skeptical it will pass.

Officials also say that local solutions won't permanently cure what is essentially a national problem.

All costs are rising, but nothing rivals healthcare expenses, which have skyrocketed 63 percent since 2001, according to a study of 32 communities issued last month by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation and the Massachusetts Municipal Association.

The increase is quadruple the growth rate in local budgets, the study said, with health insurance expenses now eating up 10 percent of municipal spending.

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State's leaders need to get to yes on healthcare

BOSTON GLOBE EDITORIAL
Romney's recommendation
August 11, 2005

IT MUST seem to Governor Romney that everyone in state government with a vote is conspiring against him getting anything done. The governor, always swimming upstream against a Democratic Legislature, hasn't improved relations by posing for national magazines and otherwise allowing rumors of his presidential ambitions to fly. It has made for a difficult summer.

Romney's vetoes of stem cell legislation and $110 million in budget spending were thumpingly overridden by the Legislature, and his veto of the emergency contraception bill faces the same fate. His housing, education, economic stimulus, and healthcare initiatives are stalled. This week even the slumbering Governor's Council roused itself to oppose a Romney judicial appointment for the first time, prompting the nominee to withdraw.

It would be best for Romney to clarify his intention whether to seek reelection as soon as possible so that legislators and the public could know for sure whether their governor is a lame duck. But even in Massachusetts some things ought to be above politics. Plans to improve housing, education, and especially healthcare need to be attended to with vigor when the August doldrums pass.

How to provide health insurance to the 460,000 Massachusetts residents still without it is a puzzle that has confounded governors going back to Michael Dukakis. Romney's plan would offer three solutions: basic, but mandatory, private plans for residents who can afford insurance but choose not to enroll; Medicaid coverage to those who are poor enough to be eligible but not registered with the program; and heavily subsidized, low-cost plans for everyone else.

One problem with Romney's initiative is that real people don't stay in static categories. They lose jobs and then become employed again, suddenly earning too much for the subsidized plans. Or they become ill and find they need more coverage than the bare-bones plans can offer. Without a single universal plan for everyone in the state, people in many circumstances still won't be covered.

Another weakness is that Romney's plan does little to control rising healthcare costs, other than leaving it up to the insurers to deny or restrict care -- part of the problem in the first place. The proposal needs to be independently analyzed for its cost.

Several other plans are circulating on Beacon Hill, and most have something to offer. The individual mandate idea at least recognizes that few people today get coverage all their working lives from one large employer. And Romney's bill includes protections against companies that do offer coverage now from dumping the benefit. The state's leaders need to get to yes on healthcare. A victory would benefit everyone in the state, not just Romney.

Health Care on Fall Agenda

SENATE PRESIDENT: HEALTH CARE, JOBS BILL, AUTO REFORM ON FALL AGENDA

By Amy Lambiaso
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
amy.lambiaso@statehousenews.com

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, AUG. 10, 2005….State senators are poised to tackle auto insurance reform, health care, and issue their own plan to boost the state’s economy when they return in the fall, Senate leaders said Wednesday.In an interview Wednesday, Senate President Robert Travaglini said he is finalizing the Senate’s agenda for the fall and intends to speak with House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi soon to determine if Senate priorities are aligned with those of House leaders.

Travaglini remains committed to holding health care reform as his toppriority, he said today. The East Boston Democrat has pledged to push through a law that will cut the number of uninsured in half.The Health Care Financing Committee continues to review health care reform bills that would, among other things, reduce the cost of insurance products, raise the cigarette tax, and create incentives for employers and consumers to purchase insurance. Lawmakers say they have been meeting with experts this summer and are hoping to advance a proposal this fall....

In addition, Travaglini said the House and Senate joint Constitutional Convention scheduled for Aug. 24 will be a “formality,” given that many lawmakers will be on vacation and he and DiMasi return from their trip to Israel the day before. Travaglini, the presiding lawmaker at the convention, said he will have another senator preside in his absence.“We will come in, gavel in, and get out,” Travaglini said.Three pending constitutional amendments need one more vote of approval this session to reach the November 2006 ballot. Those proposals would ban gay marriage and establish same-sex civil unions, require the state to provide universal health care, and require the state to deposit funds into its rainy day account on an annual basis.

State planning to tighten rules for free care

State planning to tighten rules for free care
Romney aides want more Medicaid enrollees
By Alice Dembner, Boston Globe Staff, August 3, 2005

Two weeks after Governor Mitt Romney proposed legislation to provide health insurance for all state residents, his administration is moving to change the rules for a ''free care" program in ways that advocates say could make it harder for the uninsured to get healthcare.

Under the rules, which would become effective Oct. 1, hundreds of thousands of uninsured residents would have to pay $3 to $5 copayments toward their medical care, which studies have shown can scare away poorer patients. In addition, some patients who currently get services through the state's free-care program, but have other options for coverage, would be excluded, and prescription coverage for all uninsured would be restricted.

The moves are designed to make sure that the free-care program is not more attractive than MassHealth, the state's Medicaid insurance program for low-income patients, according to the administration. It wants to encourage more patients to enroll in MassHealth, in which costs are shared by the state and federal governments. Financing of the free-care program -- $502 million for fiscal year 2006 -- comes from taxpayers, hospitals, and health insurers. An additional rationale for the changes, the administration said, is to make the free-care pool more like the insurance plans that Romney's legislation lays out.

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Massachusetts health premiums to go up 10% or more

Healthcare premiums to leap again
Rates could increase ranks of uninsured
By Jeffrey Krasner, Boston Globe Staff, August 2, 2005

Most Massachusetts companies and their workers will get hit with increases in their health insurance premiums of 10 percent or more beginning next year, according to the state's largest insurers.

Insurance companies and many employers are already negotiating rates and coverage for 2006. Insurers and industry consultants say employers may end up absorbing a bigger share of premium increases. Many companies will also opt for health plans in which workers have to pay higher-out-of-pocket costs to keep premiums down.

The double-digit increase -- coming on top of five consecutive years in which premiums increased by at least 10 percent -- are expected to lead to a greater number of uninsured people in the state as more companies and workers find coverage too costly.

''As prices go up, some at the margin won't be able to afford to cover their families," said Michael Doonan, executive director of the Massachusetts Health Policy Forum, a nonpartisan research group. That will drive more people to Medicaid, the federal program administered by states for low-income individuals, Doonan said.

Insurers blamed the continued steep rise of health premiums on increasing hospital costs, rising prescription drug expenses, and an aging population.

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