Massachusetts Medicare for All Caucus

02/11/2025

The , , universal healthcare as a right movement for 2025 in Massachusetts has kicked off - in Fitchburg! Thanks to the leadership of Fitchburg City Councilors Derrick Cruz and Bernie Schultz, Mass-Care Executive Director Kimberley Connors, Mass Nurses Association (MNA) President Katie Murphy and I were invited to speak last night about An Act Establishing in Massachusetts, and how our for-profit healthcare system is causing the collapse of the system. A room full of people passionate about healthcare makes me incredibly happy and hopeful!

In North Central Mass, from Burbank Hospital to the UMass Leominster Hosoital to the Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, there has been a hollowing out of comprehensive healthcare. ’s universal coverage of all residents, increased reimbursement rates, regional equity and prioritizing the doctor-patient relationship over the profits of health insurance companies and hospital executives, not to mention saving municipal government’s millions of dollars, will provide a dramatic improvement of quality of life for working families in Mass! Check out Fitchburg Access video here:

https://videoplayer.telvue.com/player/yycCAZPb0NN3zj2o5qio-YFMNC43NjCG/media/932620?fullscreen=false&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3mebKoU5wbQE1O4PD9ntOlb9HVWbk_jRMVjzc0Vjys44lWCg2yiegEDHs_aem_ioRGo9LgSvHcTreqHCA8Uw

12/13/2024

At almost every community event I’ve attended this week, there has been discussion around the terrible experiences people have had with their health insurance companies. As the muckraker journalist Matt Bruenig details in Jacobin Magazine below, some neoliberal and/or establishment pundits have tried to pivot away from blaming health insurance companies as the main culprit of our broken health care system - but they are. Portion of story pasted below - including that a is the solution - eliminating health insurance companies. Big push on next session! Join us at masscare.org - let’s organize!

“At the same time as [the shooter manhunt] was going on, the American Society of Anesthesiologists, a lobbyist organization, criticized Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) for declaring that it would curtail reimbursements for anesthesia care that goes beyond a certain level. This criticism generated a backlash that resulted in BCBS backing down from the policy.

The combination of these two events has jolted the US health care system back into the discourse in a way not seen since 2020, including many tweets and articles from prominent pundits like Matt Yglesias, Dylan Matthews, Noah Smith, and Eric Levitz. The quick consensus among these pundits is that dislike of the private insurers is overblown and that the main problem lies with providers and their overcharging ways. This conclusion relies upon several factual misunderstandings and very questionable analysis that I aim to correct below.

The Scourge of Administrative Costs

From a system design perspective, the main problem with our private health insurance system is that it is extremely wasteful. All health care systems require administration, which costs money, but a private multipayer system requires massively more than other approaches, especially the single-payer system favored by the American left.

To get your head around why this is, think for a second about what happens to every $100 you give to a private insurance company. According to the most exhaustive study on this question in the United States — the Congressional Budget Office single-payer study from 2020 — the first thing that happens is that $16 of those dollars are taken by the insurance company. From there, the insurer gives the remaining $84 to a hospital to reimburse them for services. That hospital then takes another $15.96 (19 percent of its revenue) for administration, meaning that only $68.04 of the original $100 actually goes to providing care.

In a single-payer system, the path of that $100 looks a lot different. Rather than take $16 for insurance administration, the public insurer would only take $1.60. And rather than take $15.96 of the remaining money for hospital administration, the hospital would only take $11.80 (12 percent of its revenue), meaning that $86.60 of the original $100 actually goes to providing care.”

https://jacobin.com/2024/12/health-care-shooting-insurance-costs

Since the shooting of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO, a number of pundits have claimed that the main cause of exorbitant US health care costs is overcharging by providers, not health insurance companies. The argument doesn’t hold up: insurers are mostly to blame.

11/12/2024

On Sunday, the Boston Globe published Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders' Op-Ed, which I strongly agree with. Full text below. It's critical to highlight that Senator Sanders is not just focused on policies that will directly help working families (list near the bottom of his Op-Ed), but also the messaging, which emphasizes that neither President Biden or Congressional Democrats used strong enough rhetoric to tell Americans whose side Democrats are on. There is no better time than now to discuss these ideas:

"The results of the 2024 election have confirmed a reality that is too frequently denied by Democratic Party leaders and strategists: The American working class is angry — and for good reason.
They want to know why the very rich are getting much richer, and the CEOs of major corporations make almost 300 times more than their average employees, while weekly wages remain stagnant and 60 percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck.
They want to know why corporate profits soar while companies shut down factories in America and move to low-wage countries.
They want to know why the food industry enjoys record breaking profits, while they can’t afford their grocery bills.
They want to know why they can’t afford to go to a doctor or pay for their prescription drugs, and worry about going bankrupt if they end up in a hospital.
Donald Trump won this election because he tapped into that anger.
Did he address any of these serious issues in a thoughtful or meaningful way? Absolutely not.
What he did do was divert the festering anger in our country at a greedy and out-of-touch corporate elite into a politics that served his political goals and will end up further enriching his fellow billionaires.
Trump’s “genius” is his ability to divide the working class so that tens of millions of Americans will reject solidarity with their fellow workers and pave the way for huge tax breaks for the very rich and large corporations.
While Trump did talk about capping credit card interest rates at 10 percent, and a new trade policy with China, his fundamental explanation as to why the working class was struggling was that millions of illegal immigrants have invaded America and that we are now an “occupied country.”
In his pathologically dishonest world, undocumented immigrants are illegally participating in our elections and voting for Democrats. They are creating massive amounts of crime, driving wages down, and taking our jobs. They are getting free health care and other benefits that are denied to American citizens. They are even eating our pets.
That explanation is grossly racist, cruel, and fallacious. But it is an explanation.
And what do the Democrats have to say about the crises facing working families? What is their full-throated explanation, pounded away day after day in the media, in the halls of Congress, and in town meetings throughout the country as to why tens of millions of workers, in the richest country on earth, are struggling to put food on the table or pay the rent? Where is the deeply felt outrage that we are the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care for all as a human right while insurance and drug companies make huge profits?
How do they explain supporting billions of dollars in military aid to the right-wing extremist government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which has created an unprecedented humanitarian disaster in Gaza that is causing massive malnutrition and starvation for thousands of children?
In my view, the Democrats lost this election because they ignored the justified anger of working class America and became the defenders of a rigged economic and political system.
This election was largely about class and change and the Democrats, in both cases, were often on the wrong side. As Jimmy Williams Jr., the president of the Painters Union, said, “The Democratic Party has continued to fail to prioritize a strong, working-class message that addresses issues that really matter to workers. The party did not make a positive case for why workers should vote for them, only that they were not Donald Trump. That’s not good enough anymore!”
As an Independent member of the US Senate, I caucus with the Democrats. In that capacity I have been proud to work with President Biden on one of the most ambitious pro-worker agendas in modern history.
We passed the American Rescue Plan to pull us out of the COVID-19 economic downturn; made historic investments in rebuilding our infrastructure and in transforming our energy system; began the process of rebuilding our manufacturing base; lowered the cost of prescription drugs and forgave student debt for five million Americans. Biden promised to be the most progressive president since FDR and, on domestic issues, he kept his word.
But, unlike FDR, these achievements are almost never discussed within the context of a grossly unfair economy that continues to fail ordinary Americans. Yes. In the past few years we have made some positive changes. We must acknowledge, however, that what we’ve done is nowhere near enough.
In 1936, in his second inaugural address, FDR spoke not only of his administration’s enormous achievements in combatting the Great Depression, but of the painful economic realities that millions of Americans were still experiencing.
Roosevelt’s words remain relevant today: “I see millions of families trying to live on incomes so meager that the pall of family disaster hangs over them day by day … I see millions denied education, recreation, and the opportunity to better their lot and the lot of their children … I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.”
Of course, the world is today profoundly different than it was in 1936. We are not in an economic depression. Unemployment is relatively low. People are not facing starvation.
But the Democratic leadership must recognize that, in a rapidly changing economy, working families face an enormous amount of economic pain, anxiety and hopelessness — and they want change. The status quo is not working for them.
In politics you can’t fight something with nothing. The Democratic Party needs to determine which side it is on in the great economic struggle of our times, and it needs to provide a clear vision as to what it stands for. Either you stand with the powerful oligarchy of our country, or you stand with the working class. You can’t represent both.
While Democrats will be in the minority in the Senate and (probably) the House in the new Congress, they will still have the opportunity to bring forth a strong legislative agenda that addresses the needs of working families.
If Republicans choose to vote those bills down, the American working class will learn quickly enough as to which party represents them, and which party represents corporate greed.
In my view, here are some of the working class priorities that Democrats must fight for:
We must end Citizens United and stop billionaires from buying elections.
We must raise the $7.25 federal minimum wage to a living wage — at least $17 an hour.
We must pass the Protecting the Right to Organize Act to make it easier for workers to form unions and end illegal union busting.
We must protect senior citizens by increasing Social Security benefits and extending the solvency of the program by lifting the cap on taxable income.
We must bring back defined benefit pension plans so that workers can retire with security.
We must do what every other wealthy nation does and guarantee health care to all as a human right, beginning with the expansion of Medicare to cover home health care, dental, hearing, and vision.
We must cut prescription drug prices in half, no more than is paid in other countries.
We must provide guaranteed paid family and medical leave.
We must guarantee equal pay for equal work.
We must create fair trade policies that work for workers, not just corporate CEOs.
We must build 3 million units of low income and affordable housing.
We must make public colleges and universities tuition free, childcare affordable for all, and strengthen public education by paying teachers the salaries they deserve.
We must adopt a progressive tax system which addresses the massive income and wealth inequality we are experiencing by demanding that the very wealthy start paying their fair share of taxes.
We must save taxpayer dollars by ending the massive waste, fraud and abuse that exists in the Pentagon.
These are extremely popular ideas. The Democratic Party would do well to listen to the clear directive of American voters, and deliver. The simple fact is: if you stand with working people, they will stand with you. In my view, if Democrats deliver on an agenda like this, they can win back the working class of our country and the White House."
Bernie Sanders is an Independent US senator from Vermont.

In my view, the Democrats lost this election because they ignored the justified anger of working class America and became the defenders of a rigged economic and political system.

10/31/2024

I wanted to make sure that Nashoba Valley residents knew that last week Governor Maura Healey, Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh and Department of Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein visited Ayer last Tuesday, and met with members of the Nashoba Valley Health Planning Group. Well done by The Harvard Press's John Osborn for getting this story that no other papers seems to have, fully pasted below.
Because of the last minute notice on the meeting, I was unable to be there, but other members of the working groups, including Nashoba Valley-area legislators, fire chiefs, town managers and Select Board members were in attendance. It is disappointing to me that the meeting was so private, but I appreciate Governor Healey and her senior healthcare team coming out to the region.
As I have written before, area legislators continue to advocate and do outreach to find a hospital operator to bring back the hospital, but there have not been any solid bids forthcoming.
I welcome feedback to this article, and constituents and impacted residents are always welcome to email my office at
[email protected]. A truly frustrating crisis.
"Healey visits Ayer for first time since Nashoba hospital closure, vows to revitalize region’s health care system"
Gov. Maura Healey traveled to Ayer Town Hall Tuesday morning to attend a meeting of the group tasked by her administration with rebuilding the emergency services and regional health care system disrupted by Steward Health Care when the company shuttered Nashoba Valley Medical Center in August. It was Healey’s first visit to the area since Steward filed for bankruptcy in January.
Local officials have complained that Healey and her administration have been too focused on hospitals in eastern Massachusetts and have failed to recognize the disruption to emergency and health care services that the closure of Nashoba hospital would bring to the 17 rural towns, including Harvard, that depended on it.
The meeting was private and lasted more than 90 minutes, well past its one-hour deadline. More than 30 attendees, members of the working group as well as other state officials, packed into a small conference room. Among those present were U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh, and Commissioner of the Department of Public Health Robbie Goldstein. Participants were barred from disclosing any of the information or discussions that took place.
In a brief interview outside Ayer Town Hall Tuesday afternoon Healey once again blamed the “greed and mismanagement of Steward Health Care and its CEO Ralph de la Torre” for the problems confronting Nashoba and other former Steward-operated hospitals in Massachusetts.
“From the beginning we’ve been facing a really difficult situation,” she said. “We have focused our efforts on doing all we can to save jobs, protect patients, check people’s access to health care. We did not have a hospital operator come forward ready to take over the [Nashoba] hospital, but I didn’t want to let that be the end, and that’s why I convened this working group that I had the chance to sit with today.”
The closure of Nashoba deprived the central Massachusetts towns it served of an emergency room that treated as many as 16,000 patients a year, plus 46 inpatient beds, six intensive care unit (ICU) beds, five pediatric beds, a 20-bed geriatric psychiatric unit, labs—and a helipad. Harvard patients with a medical emergency are now transported to Emerson Hospital in Concord or UMass Memorial in Leominster
To stabilize and revitalize
The 33-member Nashoba Valley Working Group was assembled earlier this month “to “stabilize and revitalize” health care in the Nashoba Valley region,” according to the Oct. 8 press release announcing its formation. Its members include hospital executives and health care providers, fire chiefs, community leaders, and elected officials. The group has been meeting weekly; Tuesday’s meeting was its third, Robert Pontbriand, Ayer’s town manager and the group’s appointed co-chair, told the Press. According to other sources, Healey made the decision to attend today’s meeting late last week, but chose not to make the visit public.
“It’s a working group and we’re going to continue to work on what it is that this community needs—this area needs—and what’s the best way to devise delivery of care.” She added, “It’s going to take the kind of teamwork and collaboration that was in the room this morning.”
Concerning the size and diversity of the group, Healey said it was important to have all the stakeholders in the region represented. She added that as someone who grew up in a rural community—Hampton Falls, New Hampshire—she understands the concerns and the needs of the affected towns. “We want to work to do all that we can to make something better out of what has been a horrible situation.”
Did the group have a deadline? “However long it takes,” said Healey as she ducked into the SUV waiting outside Ayer Town Hall to whisk her to a meeting with first responders in Pepperell arranged by their state representative, Margaret Scarsdale..
No action items yet
According to state Sen. Jamie Eldridge, who is a member of the working group and represents Harvard and Ayer, members have been focused on understanding the gaps in health care opened by the loss of Nashoba. “It’s been very helpful, but you know, we still don’t have any action items,” he said. “I didn’t expect we’d have them by now, but we need to have them.” Eldridge said that area legislators remain committed to bringing a hospital back.
In an interview with the Press this week, Scarsdale—who represents a portion of Ayer as well as Groton, Pepperell, Townsend, Lunenburg​, and portions of Dunstable— expressed a similar position. She said she had gathered a dozen stakeholders from the area in mid-August—well before the working group was convened—to advocate for keeping the hospital open and finding a way to make it happen. That group is continuing to meet, she said, and has not given up its quest to reopen Nashoba. The members are convinced, she said, that “emergency services have to be stood back up."
Editor's note: This article has been corrected and updated. The month in which Steward Health Care filed for bankruptcy was May, not January.

Corrected and updated October 25, 2024   Gov. Maura Healey traveled to Ayer Town Hall Tuesday morning to attend a meeting of the group tasked by her administration with rebuilding the emergency services and regional health care system disrupted by Steward Health Care when the company shuttered Nash...

09/22/2024

With the Nashoba Valley and Dorchester communities still reeling from the closure of its Steward hospitals (with talk of working groups being created by the Healey-Driscoll administration to address the healthcare access problems there), you only have to look at what Norwood has experienced for FOUR YEARS to realize what a terrible corporation Steward “Healthcare” has been to Massachusetts. Kudos to Senator Mike Rush and Representative John Rogers for pushing for a Mass hospital operator to take over Norwood Hospital, which closed 4 years ago due to heavy flooding (!!).
However, all Mass policymakers have to admit we need to dramatically increase government oversight of our hospitals, and reform our entire healthcare system:

“In this whole Steward mess, Norwood’s gotten lost,” said Tom McCabe, development director at the League School for Autism in nearby Walpole, which once sent students who were hurt in the playground to the hospital but now relies on urgent care centers in the area.

Still, officials in this suburb of 31,000 residents southwest of Boston believe their hospital — which long occupied pride of place near the center of town — will reopen someday. It’s inevitable, said Tony Mazzucco, the town’s general manager, even as he acknowledges it could take years.

“We need Norwood Hospital,” said Lisa Corrigan, president of South Shore Staffing in Canton, which once supplied administrative and payroll staffers to the hospital. “In the time it takes to get to Needham or Faulkner [in Jamaica Plain], a lot of bad things can happen.”

Where the hospital stood is now a massive construction site, with giant mounds of dirt and stacks of building materials piled up in front of a hulking skeletal structure that may someday house a new hospital.

“I drive by it every day,” said Tom O’Rourke, president of the Norwood-based Neponset River Regional Chamber, which represents businesses in a dozen communities formerly served by the hospital. “And my heart sinks when I see that empty shell of a building.”

O’Rourke, a former Norwood Hospital patient, said his mother worked there and two of his kids were born there. Because the hospital’s 1,000 employees had been an economic boon to many of the small businesses in the area, he said, “it was a double whammy when it closed.”

Finding a new operator willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to complete the rebuilding of Norwood Hospital will be no easy task.