Massachusetts #universal health coverage effort carries on

Here in Massachusetts, life goes on in terms of universal coverage.From The Boston Globe: Health-insurance sign-ups are running ahead of expectations as the Massachusetts Health Connector wraps up the second month of the three-month open-enrollment period, according to Louis Gutierrez, executive director. The Connector, a state agency that serves people who don’t obtain health insurance …

Kaiser Health News: Increase in health insurance exchange enrollment mirrors some state programs, including Massachusetts

Phil Galewitz of Kaiser Health News reports that enrollment increases for federal exchanges  mirror "activity on several state-run Obamacare exchanges, according to figures obtained from states independently by Kaiser Health News. Minnesota, with more than 54,000 enrollees as of Monday, doubled the number of sign-ups it had at the same time last year. Colorado, Massachusetts and …

Can #Massachusetts tame #health #spending with transparency and oversight?

Stuart Altman, the Brandeis University healthcare economist who has advised presidents from Nixon to Obama, talked to Health Leaders last week. He is now  the head of the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission, which tracks total health spending statewide.   HLM: How is Massachusetts trying to address high costs? Altman: First of all, it is the …

Single-payer health reform advocates launch new website #HCR #mapoli

The unrelenting supporters of the single-payer approach to health reform  have updated their website. And, it is a quite an update. The old MassCare site was sluggish -- infrequently updated and often lacking links to upcoming events. Check it out here or click below. Also in health reform, check out WBUR's Q & A with David Seltz, …

#mahealthcarecosts: Massachusetts commission meets

Meet the #MAHPC team: http://pic.twitter.com/ub0YukuYHealth Care For AllFri, Nov 16 2012 06:48:10ReplyRetweetFavoriteMore about the chairman. Altman to head Mass health costs board.Brandeis professor and long-time health policy player, Stuart Altman, will chair the state's new health care costs board.Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Google Share on LinkedinShare by emailtinkerrr0 likes · 0 commentsCost commission begins work to …

The “end of fee for service”: Health cost wars break out in in New England #hcr #mapoli #aca

More than a river divides Vermont and New Hampshire. In the state that lives by the motto, " Live Free or Die," regulators and politicians declined to set up a health insurance exchange mandated as part of the health reform law. From the June 22 Concord Monitor: John Lynch signed into law a bill that prohibits New Hampshire …

Hold the fried chicken: RedSox workout tips from the Globe

Some of the BoSox players were lifting chicken legs instead of weights last spring, but not Ellsbury and Pedroia.  Jacoby returned from an injury for a great year and Dustin was solid all season. The Globe's Daily Dose offers some advice from their off-season trainers, who counsel them "on the importance of sleep, self-massage to relieve soreness, and what …

Mass. single-payer advocates take on limits of state health reform

Before you write off these folks, note that a recent survey of doctors by the Massachusetts Medical Society found that a growing number of doctors support the idea of a single-payer system. More than 40 percent, up from  34 percent last year. So do a lot of folks at Occupy Boston. Massachusetts Health Reform in Practice and The Future of …

Occupy Health Care: Boston protesters say Wall Street makes them sick

While health reform may not be at the top of their agenda, some of the Occupy Boston protesters down at Dewey Square had no problem linking the high cost of medical care to their complaints about Wall Street.  Some support Obama’s reforms; others called for a single payer system. But, nearly everyone interviewed had universal health …

New Yorker: How Mitt Romney came around to Massachusetts style health reform

Watching New Yorker writer Ryan Lizza on MSNBC on Wednesday night got us thinking – is this a repeat? Since we recently watched four innings of a rain-delay repeat of a Red Sox game before realizing we had already seen it, we were suspect.  Lizza struggled through his explanation of Health Reform 101 -- we …