Elected officials, marketplace administrators, and health care advocates are ramping up pressure on Congress to extend Biden-era federal tax credits that help Americans pay for health insurance. Without action, they warn, out-of-pocket costs could increase dramatically.
Health Care
Posted inHealth Care
Phoning it in – Mass. residents still lean toward in-person care as telehealth booms
While the rise of telehealth in the early 2020s “did improve access to care,” according to the Health Policy Commission, not everyone is able to use the new virtual hospital landscape. “Specific actions could be taken to further enhance access for more rural and vulnerable populations.”
Posted inHealth Care
‘The gaps have become too big for too many’
Physicians, policymakers, and advocates hope to make a breakthrough this term on legislation that would boost the share of health care dollars that go toward primary care amid provider burnout and growing wait times for appointments.
Posted inThe Codcast
Health care workers struggle to navigate closures and immigration fears
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith continues health care month coverage in a conversation with 1199SEIU executive vice president Cari Medina and Anestine Bentick, lead medical assistant at South Boston Community Health. They discuss existing pressures on stretched workforces, the impacts of recent closures, and how immigration policy bleeds into the health care space.
Posted inState Government
Beacon Hill lobbying still buoyed by health care interests
New data shows that lobbying remained a lucrative industry in the first half of 2025, especially for firms that count health care companies among their clients.
Posted inThe Codcast
Mass. HHS secretary on protecting health equity and access
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 Dr. Kiame Mahaniah, Massachusetts secretary of Health and Human Services, about looming Medicaid cuts, the primary care crisis, and how to make sure the vulnerable can still access health services.
Posted inHealth Care
New poll shows high satisfaction with health insurance in Mass., even as residents delay or skip care for cost reasons
New polling for CommonWealth Beacon conducted by the MassINC Polling Group paints a picture of Massachusetts residents mostly happy with their health care coverage, especially when compared with other states, even while large slices of the population report struggling with cost and access.
Posted inOpinion
Follow the money: Is the CVS-MGB primary care deal good for Mass.?
The plan must be considered in the context of the state’s primary care task force and its emerging vision for a reformed primary care system.
Posted inHealth Care
Red lights on the way to health care
When hospitals close, communities reel. Even in well-covered Massachusetts, some regions of the state still struggle to access its nation-leading health care. And after decades of hospital consolidation, the system is staring down federal changes likely to make the hard job of providing care for underserved communities even more challenging.
Posted inThe Codcast
Can Mass. turn the health care crisis around?
John McDonough and Paul Hattis welcome Eric Dickson, president and CEO of UMass Memorial Health, to discuss the primary care crisis and a troubling federal landscape. Dickson lays out a grim picture of health care in Massachusetts if the state and federal trajectory does not change.
Posted inHealth Care
Healey signs bill expanding reproductive, transgender care protections
SURROUNDED BY HEALTH CARE advocates and curious tourists peering into Nurses Hall, Gov. Maura Healey signed an expanded shield law giving patients and providers in Massachusetts a new layer of defense against out-of-state intrusion into reproductive and transgender care.
Posted inThe Download
The Download: ‘We are terrified’: Gateway City leaders prepare for federal cuts, changes to Medicaid
New from CommonWealth Beacon OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS?: Hidden among the cuts to social welfare programs in President Trump’s budget reconciliation bill was a provision that builds on “Opportunity Zones” — an […]
Posted inHealth
‘We are terrified’: Gateway City leaders prepare for federal cuts, changes to Medicaid
The Trump administration’s tax bill will likely hit hardest in the state’s Gateway Cities as work requirements and Medicaid eligibility checks ramp up.
Posted inHealth Care
Insurance regulators OK steep increases, reject two as too large
Two of the largest health insurance carriers must either appeal or go back to the drawing board after state regulators on Monday rejected their proposed rate hikes as excessive.
Posted inHealth Care
HHS chief Walsh stepping down, Mahaniah named successor
After a more than two-year tenure in which she charted the state’s path through the tumultuous Steward Health Care collapse, Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh will step down.
Posted inThe Codcast
Why a quasi-independent state agency needed a quick $240 million
John McDonough, Paul Hattis, and Matt Veno of the Group Insurance Commission discuss the GIC’s last-minute $240 million infusion from state coffers to cover claims for the rest of the 2025 fiscal year.
Posted inHealth Care
Speaker Johnson sends signals on two key Medicaid reforms
Johnson told reporters that the bill will not change the portion of state Medicaid costs paid by the federal government for states that have expanded Medicaid, like Massachusetts.
Posted inState Government
Opponents knock Healey’s youth mental health plan
With three state-funded youth mental health programs at risk of closing, lawmakers and providers ramped up their opposition this week to Gov. Healey’s proposed budget cuts.
Posted inState Government
Health care cash rained on Mass. lobbying world in 2024
At a time when lawmakers are wrestling with cost, access and regulatory questions, health care industry power players continued to dominate the Beacon Hill lobbying world last year, spending the most on employing influential insiders who sway development of public policy.