Governor Deval Patrick, hoping to propel his proposal to curb medical costs, urged lawmakers and the health care industry yesterday to stop “wringing hands about how complex this is’’ and move quickly to pass legislation to change how doctors and hospitals are paid.
“This is not an option,’’ he told several hundred people gathered at a State House forum where top administration officials discussed health care costs. “We are not going to debate this to death.’’
Ah, but Rep Ronald “Ruth's Chris” Mariano says Yes We Can Debate This To Death!
“This is going to turn the [health care] system upside-down,’’ said Representative Ronald Mariano, a Quincy Democrat, who has predicted that the Legislature will not be ready to act until next spring. “There are tons of questions.’’
Next spring? Good Lord. Is there anything more important right now than health care cost control — for employers, state and municipal budgets, for individuals, our economy? How much golf can you possibly play, Ron?
Find out about the bill — fact sheet, the entire text (only 52 pages, after all). Call your state rep — the House is especially important, since I would guess that Terry Murray is eager to move on this in the Senate. (?)
Hear the joint statement of Health Care For All and the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization — representing a lot of communities hit especially hard by health care cost increases:
stomv says
2. Is this the kind of thing that can be done incrementally, or does it have to be done all at once?
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p>If the answer to (2) is incremental, then perhaps we can get started ASAP and make improvements in a few areas which don’t overlap much, and keep cranking on improvement a bit at a time. Sure, nobody’s going to feel the sudden drop [or even leveling] of insurance rates at one time, but I’m not so sure that health care moves very quickly anyway.
charley-on-the-mta says
You are taking Mariano’s statement at face value. What Mariano wants is for hospital lobbyists to get even more involved, donate to his campaign coffers, and weaken the whole thing to their advantage.
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p>Cost control has been on the table for ages. ACO’s have been part of the conversation the whole time. Patrick’s proposal is not a surprise.
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p>There is no reason to slow-roll the process simply for its own sake. Another year is another raise in premiums. If there is no higher priority — and there isn’t, for the reasons stated — the House needs to get to work pronto.
johnk says
there is significant interest in ACOs, groups across the country are establishing them now. Even, gasp, New Hampshire, its supposed to start July 1st. There is absolutely no reason to delay, nor is this some new model that we need years to deliberate. That’s just crazy.
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p>Mariano, pay-for-performance. That’s the model, got it?
david says
to Mariano, 18 holes of golf can be quite time-consuming. Plus, if you don’t hit the links pretty regularly, the consistency of your game can really suffer, and that can drive up your handicap. And nobody wants to see that happen.