On the monthly Health or Consequences episode of The Codcast, John McDonough of the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute talk with Vicki Pulos, a senior health law attorney at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute. They discuss the massive 2025 federal tax-and-spend law and its consequences for MassHealth and the Connector, what the state can do to limit coverage losses, and immigrant insurance eligibility cuts.
Health Care
Posted inHealth Care
Health insurers seek double-digit premium hikes on small businesses, again
A year after Gov. Maura Healey dubbed health insurance premium increases “simply unsustainable,” carriers are once again pursuing sizable rate changes that will fuel ongoing debate about the state’s affordability.
Posted inThe Codcast
The grassroots campaign that changed health care
On the latest episode of The Codcast’s Health or Consequences, Paul Hattis interviews his normal co-host John McDonough and Cheri Andes about their work 20 years ago to secure passage of a landmark health care reform law.
Posted inHealth Care
Methuen Hospital will be next in a string of maternity unit closures since 2010
This will be the 12th maternity service closure in Massachusetts – five of which have occurred in Gateway Cities – since 2010. The state technically doesn’t have any maternity care deserts – counties without hospitals or birth centers offering obstetric care, and no obstetric providers. But recent losses have experts and advocates sounding the alarm.
Posted inHEALTH CARE AT 20
Massachusetts health care reform met the moral moment
Living out the Brandeis credo to be a laboratory for democracy, we showed a path to providing health care coverage for nearly all residents
Posted inHEALTH CARE AT 20
We declared that access to health coverage should not be left to chance or circumstance
Two decades after making health care history, Massachusetts must now face unfinished work on affordability, primary care access, and behavioral care
Posted inHEALTH CARE AT 20
The Massachusetts Health Connector has been a resilient — and flexible — foundation for a bold experiment
Cost and affordability concerns, along with federal retreat on Affordable Care Act funding and policy, present big challenges as we enter our third decade
Posted inThe Codcast
Trying to measure primary care’s downward spiral
On the monthly Health or Consequences episode of The Codcast, John McDonough of the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute talk with Barbra Rabson, president and CEO of Massachusetts Health Quality Partners. They discuss the primary care crisis, how data transparency improves patient outcomes, and tease upcoming recommendations from the primary care task force.
Posted inEconomy
‘Blunt optimist’: Mass. insurance commissioner Michael Caljouw tries to manage sea change in the industry
Caljouw sat down to discuss how his office is navigating a changing landscape.
Posted inState Government
‘It just requires people to be destitute’: Healey draws criticism over push to tighten eligibility for safety-net program
Five years after lawmakers scrapped the asset limit attached to the Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled, and Children program, Gov. Maura Healey wants to bring it back at a higher threshold — a move that advocates say will impose unnecessary burdens on at-risk recipients.
Posted inThe Codcast
Regulating insurance as health care costs surge
On the monthly Health or Consequences episode of The Codcast, John McDonough of the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute talk with Michael Caljouw, the state commissioner of insurance. They discuss new regulations for insurers, concerns about the stability and solvency of the Massachusetts health insurance system, and insurer consolidation.
Posted inState Government
Growing health care pressure drives up spending in Healey’s annual budget
MassHealth spending would increase more than 7 percent under Gov. Maura Healey’s new state budget proposal, roughly twice as much as all other state spending in a reflection of the challenge Beacon Hill faces to control health care costs.
Posted inThe Codcast
Filling the health care funding gaps
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith unravels the latests state health coverage moves with Audrey Morse Gasteier, executive director of the Massachusetts Health Connector, and Alex Sheff, senior director of policy and government affairs at Health Care For All.
Posted inHealth Care
Healey unveils $250 million health insurance relief plan
Federal enhanced premium tax credits expired at the end of December, creating turmoil for residents whose subsidies had protected them from steep premium hikes.
Posted inState Government
What to expect when you’re expecting (legislative action)
Major policy issues like housing affordability, primary care access, and utility bills loom over Beacon Hill in 2026, when voters could also decide a dozen ballot questions and pick statewide elected officials.
Posted inOpinion
The top 5 CommonWealth Beacon commentary topics in 2025
Thoughtful CommonWealth Beacon opinion pieces offered a stark contrast to a year of oxygen-sucking pronouncements by a president whose coarsening of public debate commanded nearly nonstop headlines.
Posted inThe Codcast
‘The exits are growing, the entries are slowing’ in primary care
John McDonough and Paul Hattis talk with Zirui Song, associate professor of health care policy and medicine at Harvard Medical School and a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital. They discuss Song’s research and thoughts about the primary care crisis nationally and in Massachusetts, and dive into the promise and issues with private equity in health care.
Posted inState Government
Our top five Beacon Hill stories of 2025
The Democrats who control the levers of power in Massachusetts spent most of the year fretting about upheaval from the federal government and preparing for more expansive action down the line.
Posted inState Government
Legislature downshifts into holiday mode after short burst of activity
What reached Gov. Maura Healey’s desk, and what’s still on hold until 2026 now that the Legislature is done with major business for the year?
Posted inHealth Care
Health care workplace violence bill finding traction
According to a bill summary, someone in a Massachusetts health care facility is assaulted, threatened or verbally abused every 38 minutes.
Posted inThe Codcast
When health care access is a legal puzzle
On the monthly Health or Consequences episode of The Codcast, John McDonough of the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute talk with Matt Selig, the executive director of Health Law Advocates. They discuss the blur between medical and legal access issues, the group’s history and capacity, and their current litigation focuses.
Posted inHealth Care
State council approves Leicester hospital, nursing home sale
By a 10-2 vote, the council backed the $9 million transfer of Vibra Hospital of Western Massachusetts and the Meadows nursing home in Leicester, along with the property they occupy.
Posted inThe Codcast
A year of strained systems and trust after Carney closures
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporters Jennifer Smith and Hallie Claflin talk about Claflin’s deep dive into the fallout from Steward Health Care’s bankruptcy. Two communities – the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester and the rural Nashoba Valley – lost their community health centers. Just over a year later, the local emergency health systems are strained and residents say they still feel confused about why the state allowed their centers to close while others were saved.
Posted inThe Codcast
Mass. Health Connector chief: State must ‘deal with the reality in front of us’ as critical health care deadline looms
On the monthly Health or Consequences episode of The Codcast, John McDonough of the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute spoke with Audrey Gasteier, executive director of the Massachusetts Health Connector. Gasteier about the current crisis facing residents of the Commonwealth should the federal government fail to renew premium tax credits.
