Overseers of Massachusetts’ trailblazing healthcare program made their first cuts yesterday, trimming $115 million, or 12 percent, from Commonwealth Care, which subsidizes premiums for needy residents and is the centerpiece of the 2006 law.
WBUR’s CommonHealth also reports
The economy is hitting the state’s free and subsidized health insurance program, Commonwealth Care, from 2 angles. First, more state residents affected by the shrinking job market are signing up. Second, the state has less money to spend on this…and hundreds of other programs.
For more on the way the state casts the plan, see the Commonwealth Connector website.
The Globe has this interview as well:
State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill has come out strongly against the $1 billion in tax increases approved by the Legislature, proposing instead deep cuts in the state’s landmark effort at universal healthcare, calling it a luxury taxpayers can no longer afford.
As the Globe points out, Cahill has no say in this except that he’s apparently toying with the idea of running for governor.
In other news, The Washington Post has an interview with Atul Gawande, the Harvard doc whose New Yorker piece put the concept of practice pattern variation into the conversation.
Boston Health News 