The bailout parade is continuing unabated in Washington this week. On the heels of a $25 billion bailout for the automotive industry, the Bush Administration agreed yesterday to a $4.3 billion bailout of Massachusetts’ out of control health care spending. Apparently when numbers like $700 billion are being thrown around, numbers like $25 billion and $4 billion begin to sound like chump change. These “crises” all share one thing in common: they all could have been avoided if our politicians made relatively small but unpopular decisions today to avert disaster …
Is the Bush Administration supporting yet another bailout? After seven delays and months of negotiations between Massachusetts and federal officials over the renewal of the state’s Medicaid demonstration waiver which supports its landmark health reform, State House News Service has just reported that a deal has been struck. While the details of the waiver renewal are so far being withheld by both state and federal officials, there was a press conference today at 2pm where Gov. Patrick announced the deal. As my colleague Ed Haislmaier and I wrote in our …
While the Massachusetts health reform has generated a significant amount of attention, few have focused on the critical Medicaid demonstration “waiver,” which enabled the reform and was set to expire on June 30. Absent an agreement on the terms and conditions of the waiver’s renewal, last Friday the feds granted the state its fifth two-week extension in order to continue negotiations. While the feds and the state aren’t willing to make public the details of their ongoing talks, the local media have reported that the Bush administration is standing firm …
On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal published an editorial on the Massachusetts health reform that, among other things, highlighted the roughly 150 million dollar cost overrun. Unfortunately, the Journal joined other media outlets in missing the real story. What was left out of the editorial, and other media coverage thus far, was an examination of the tension in shifting subsidies away from institutions to individuals in order to help them buy health insurance coverage. This is the key policy issue at hand as Massachusetts is now negotiating with federal officials …
First Bear Stearns, then Fannie and Freddie … and now the Commonwealth of Massachusetts? Last week Massachusetts received another short-term extension of its Medicaid waiver—which in part funds the state’s health care reform — until next Monday (July 28th) because the terms and conditions of its renewal are still pending. State and federal officials have mostly been silent on the details of their talks but there is no apparent sign that negotiations will come to an end by the next deadline. In a recent memo I authored with my colleague …
Officials in Boston and Washington are currently negotiating the renewal of Massachusetts’ Medicaid waiver, which funds a large portion of the state’s landmark health reform law. After a short-term extension was granted two weeks ago, talks are scheduled to end on Monday. In a recent memo, Ed Haislmaier and I note that the outcome of the negotiations will be significant beyond the state of Massachusetts. The policy precedent set by the Massachusetts experiment is particularly important, and the terms of any waiver renewal will either confirm or undermine an important …
