On this week’s Codcast, Paul Levy, the former CEO of Beth Israel describes Partners as a regulated monopoly. He is skeptical that a merger of the BI, Lahey, and several […]
Episode 59: Health care duopoly in the making?
Posted inHealth Care
The Codcast: Health care duopoly in the making?
A group of hospitals led by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Lahey Health of Burlington are banding together to take on Partners HealthCare, the dominant health care provider in […]
Posted inPolitics
Healey to DPU: Cut Eversource rates
ATTORNEY GENERAL MAURA HEALEY is pushing state regulators to reject a bid by Eversource for a $96 million increase in electricity rates and instead order the utility to cut its […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Beth Israel-Lahey merger causing some jitters
USUALLY SUMMERTIME is not chock full of key health care developments and related news stories. Yes, there is always the strategic late August regulatory filings from our hospitals, where annual […]
Posted inThe Back Story
Political payback and whatnot
JAMES VALLEE. CHARLEY Murphy. John Rogers. Jonathan Hecht. To that list of past and present lawmakers, you can add state Rep. Russell Holmes as someone who has crossed House Speaker Robert […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion, Politics
What’s the rush on Medicaid reform?
IN THE SUMMER OF 1972, then-governor Frank Sargent announced a series of steps to gain control over the escalating costs of the Medicaid program, which had been launched only a […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download
For Jackson, tight squeeze to Walsh’s left
Marty Walsh is out of touch with issues affecting working-class people and those in the city’s less affluent neighborhoods. He’s more attuned to downtown development than down-on-their-luck constituents, and he […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion, Politics
Solution to domestic violence homicide: Fewer guns or more guns?
SINCE 2012, THERE have been 82 domestic violence homicides in Massachusetts, many involving the use of a gun. What’s to be done about these tragedies? The Legislature’s Judiciary Committee heard […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download
As the Globe churns
The newspaper industry is volatile enough because of outside pressures that stability at the top is a requirement to ensure as smooth a ride as possible in navigating the shifting […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
No popular options for repeal or replace
WELL, THAT DIDN’T take long. Less than 24 hours after conservative senators Jerry Moran and Mike Lee joined Rand Paul and Susan Collins in opposing the Senate’s “repeal and replace” […]
Posted inThe Download
Baker (still) flying high
It’s great to be on top. Just ask Gov. Charlie Baker. The Republican governor has maintained his No. 1 ranking in the latest Morning Consult poll showing America’s Most and […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Baker vetoes $320 million from budget
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Ten days ago, the Democrat-controlled Legislature approved what would be the state’s first budget in excess of forty billion dollars – $40.2 billion to be exact. […]
Posted inPolitics
Lawmakers reach pot compromise
FIRE UP THE SMOKING lamp. House and Senate negotiators finally reached a compromise on amending the voter-approved law legalizing marijuana in Massachusetts, agreeing to levy a tax of up to […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download
Hingham drama
For a small, toney town, Hingham generates an awful lot of news. The latest comes in Sunday’s Boston Globe with the recounting of a suicide by a distraught 26-year-old man […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Episode 58: Trash talk
Stephen Lisauskas, a vice president at Waste Zero, a North Andover company that advises municipalities on ways to reduce their trash disposal costs, says cities and towns can fairly easily […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Trump calling national monuments into question
BEARS EARS, Canyons of the Ancients, Craters of the Moon, Giant Sequoia – the names alone conjure mystery, majesty, wonder, and timelessness. These are just four of the 27 national […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Sanchez named House Ways & Means chairman
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE BOSTON DEMOCRAT REP. JEFFREY SANCHEZ will succeed outgoing Rep. Brian Dempsey as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, a pivotal fiscal affairs and policymaking […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion, Politics
Employers can help with student debt
AS THE STUDENT DEBT CRISIS worsens, elected officials are turning to college affordability as their primary policy solution. New York is implementing tuition-free public higher education through its Excelsior Scholarship, […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Getting to yes on MassHealth
MASSACHUSETTS HAS A unique culture when it comes to health care. Over the last quarter century, we have seen the business, provider, payer, consumer, and academic sectors come together to […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Eminent domain reform needed in Massachusetts
UNDER OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT, there are various powers that are absolute and from which there are no appeal. One example of such a power would be the president’s pardon […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: Trash talk
CommonWealth ran a cover story in January 2015 that featured a photo of a dump truck unloading trash at a massive landfill in New Bedford. The headline, drifting in the […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Time to update state school funding formula
FOR SOME POLICYMAKERS and the public, a billion-dollar budget such as the one granted to Boston Public Schools last fiscal year appears robust — even excessive. But teachers like me […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion, Politics
Package store leader has it wrong
FRANK ANZALOTTI, who leads Massachusetts’ package store trade association, has it wrong. Not only does he misunderstand calls to reform outdated Commonwealth alcohol laws, he misrepresents Total Wine & More’s […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Tired of waiting, Dempsey exits House for lobbying firm
THE PERCEIVED HEIR APPARENT to House Speaker Robert DeLeo said on Thursday that he is stepping down to take a top job at the high-powered lobbying firm ML Strategies, a […]