The issue of health insurance reform is all over the news. Congress is expected to vote on a bill today, and the big insurance companies are stopping at nothing to try to kill the bill.
Here in Massachusetts, we are lucky to lead the nation in access to health care coverage. Under the strong leadership of Governor Patrick, over 97% of Commonwealth residents have insurance. Governor Patrick has also stood up for working families and small businesses by putting in place a cap to limit increases in premiums. This plan will help small businesses grow as our economy recovers, and create new jobs immediately.
Since his election, Governor Patrick has been on our side in the fight for affordable, accessible health care coverage for all Massachusetts residents.
Unfortunately, that progress, and your health care coverage in Massachusetts, is being threatened in this election.
One of our opponents, Charles Baker, has a ten-year record of raising health care premiums as much at 150% while his insurance company made millions of dollars in profits. As CEO, he had the direct ability to help working families and small businesses reduce their health care costs. He failed. In addition, he opposes Governor Patrick’s plan to provide immediate relief to small businesses from rising health care premiums.
Another of our opponents, Tim Cahill, has been straightforward and aggressive in his desire to blow up health care reform in Massachusetts. Recently, he has taken this message to conservative radio and TV in an attempt to falsely discredit the progress all of you know we have made on health care reform. Despite business leaders and health care advocates, as well as an independent report from the Massachusetts Taxpayer’s Foundation, that all say he is wrong, Treasurer Cahill has made it clear that he would dismantle health care reform in the Commonwealth.
The choice in this election is clear: Deval Patrick is on your side. Charles Baker and Tim Cahill are on the side of the big insurance companies.
What can you do?
This weekend, as the health care debate in Washington dominates the news and kitchen table discussions everywhere, talk to five friends or neighbors about what is at stake here in Massachusetts. Let them know that Governor Patrick has helped expand coverage to over 400,000 previously uninsured residents, and that he is taking action now to limit premium increases on working families and small businesses. And let them know that both Charles Baker and Tim Cahill stand on the other side on this important issue.
Five conversations – that’s all it takes. That’s how we won last time, and how we will spread the word about what is at stake in this election. Make it personal.
Let’s start this weekend. What’s at stake is too important not to get involved.
Thanks,
Doug Rubin
Senior Strategist
Deval Patrick Campaign
* For more information on this and other issues, follow me on Twitter @dougrubin.
Cahill in particular is trying to channel the Scott Brown formula of running against health care. What is amazing about his position is that he presents no alternative. Its just cut it back and leave people without.
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p>It plays to the politics of the moment but does little to position himself for the duration of the campaign. Mass residents have generally lived happily with the health reform law that Romney, Trav and DiMasi bequeathed them. It was the political morass health care had become nationally (and the economy) that turned many off. Once, and hopefully if, HCR passes in DC, the issue will I think become less poisonous, or at least less prolific, particularly in Massachusetts. And then what Tim? You’re just a guy who wants to take health care away from working families.
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p>I expect Baker will take a more nuanced approach and, due to his record as an HMO CEO, he’ll have to tread carefully on the issue. But its a clear spot of vulnerability for him. If Cahill had more savvy he’d be hitting Baker on it, as opposed to hitting those in need, which positions him outside the Massachusetts mainstream.
Hey Doug:
When does Deval Patrick fullfill the promise to bring chapter 70 equity to all communities, including the 60 that were promised to be at 17.5% of foundation budget by fy 2011? In fact as you know he believes the program is busted. His feeble attempt at fixing the program by inserting adequacy language into his budget is three yrs too late. In case you do not remember the “chapter 70 is broken” video is below.
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p>Oh yea..Then there is the flip flop on charter funding.
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Still have not gotten an answer to the flip flop referenced in this note to Deval Patrick. I was promised an answer by Reville’s office.
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p>Back to ch 70. 60 communities getting screwed. Consider all those voters and consider how they will respond to the news that their local aid (ch 70 is local aid) has been compromised for five years. Now consider those voter’s response once they are made aware of the broken PROMISE. There may even be a few Legislators that have some explaining to do.
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p>FYI, the DESE is aware that the formula is flawed.
in Massachusetts.
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p>Deval’s campaign taking shots at Baker and Cahill only highlight his own inaction as insurance rates have sky-rocketed and coverage has been cut. The Massachusetts health care plan can not work long term. due to problems with cost-control and access to care.
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p>Grace Ross is the only candidate who has actually worked on legislation that expanded health coverage, a public option, to cap non-medical uses of insurance dollars, uniform billing and bulk-purchasing of drugs.
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p>The only way to permanently control costs and expand coverage is Medicare for all type, single payer health insurance. Grace is the only candidate that supports single payer.
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p>”It could be worse,” is a terrible campaign slogan.
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p>We Can Do Better! We just need some strong leadership that will take common sense action.
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p>Sue Kennedy
Campaign Manager
Grace Ross Campaign
Hey, Sue – has Grace Ross explained how we get from where we are today to single payer? I agree that single payer would be a great reform, but how do we get there? There are thousands of people in Massachusetts who have jobs that will be eliminated under a single payer system, and what is going to happen to them? They work for insurance companies, health care providers, and the like. They are our neighbors, our family members, us. Remember all the promises we heard from the moonbats who eliminated the dog tracks — how they were going to take care of those workers? And what happened to those workers?
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p>I think that we’re going to have a chance to get to single payer, but it’ll have to be built on what we already have, what Governor Patrick has accomplished with health care reform here in Massachusetts, and a lot of work to figure out how to undertake such a transformation of our economy without throwing thousands of workers under the bus. When Grace Ross can address this issue with more than pie-in-the-sky rhetoric, I’ll start listening to her, but I’m not holding my breath.
single payer is not pie in the sky. Single payer is the most tried and truly effective method of delivering health care all over the world, beginning nearly a century ago..
The current system is pie in the sky and unsustainable.
Single payer is cost effective and simple to accomplish by building on or expanding the government health delivery systems we have in place currently.
As sympathetic as I am to jobs, there are a few exceptions and the main is when peoples lives are at stake – war or health care.
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p>In other countries with single payer, instead of occupations whose job is to deny health care, jobs are instead filled in delivering health care. Certainly we are experiencing a shortage in the health delivery field.
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p>Without business being required to shoulder the burden of health care costs, we could finally able to compete for jobs that have been shipped offshore for years. Business would boom. Besides being a solution to health care, single payer would be a major part of the solution for our economic woes.
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p>Single payer is a no brainer.
Sue:
Perhaps Doug Rubin can tell us what Deval has done to relieve municipalities of the outrageous burdens of group healthcare. Oh yea, that GIC legislation still requires the support of the unions and is usually implemented with give backs, thus reducing the impact of the savings. And have 10% of all eligible municipalities even signed up? Perhaps you think allowing municipal officials to change plan design by, in some cases, increasing co-pays to a level that corresponds to what those of us pay in the dreaded private sector pay makes some sense. Oh yea, I get the collective bargaining issues, but how about reducing the cost of municipal group healthcare and saving 1,000s of jobs. Now there is a jobs program.
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p>Essentially what Deval Patrick has done to reduce the cost of healthcare at the municipal level is nothing.
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p>FYI, anytime you and Grace want to discuss the education issues that I have raised please call.
Hey – The municipal health insurance reforms enacted are not, in my mind, sufficient, but they are something. They are a start. For 16 years under Republican Governors, we heard lots of noise but no action. No municipality could even join the GIC before Deval Patrick. Governor Patrick has laid the groundwork for real reform. Without him, none of this would be possible. Keep making the perfect the enemy of the good, as the Republicans did for 16 years, and we’ll never get anywhere.
to the same plan design in its most important feature: premium splits.
As we approach an historic vote in Congress to enact real health care reform, let’s not forget the contribution that Governor Patrick has made by making the Massachusetts reform work. Imagine what would be going on nationally if it was Charlier Baker or Tim Cahill in the Corner Office.