As the July 21 deadline approaches for public comments on the Attorney General-Partners deal, it will be interesting to see if her opponents in the Democratic gubernatorial primary file comments with the Court. Ditto for candidates from other parties.
The last public comment I have seen from Steve Grossman was this:
“This deal apparently represents a common-sense solution that will continue to deliver quality care to residents of the South Shore as well as control health care costs for consumers and employers."
Don Berwick said this:
“It essentially makes permanent Partners’ already unacceptably high costs without requiring the reduction in prices that is needed, tying the state to a fundamentally flawed pricing structure for the future. The reforms the state needs are much more fundamental.”
According to that same news report, other candidates have opined as follows:
Evan Falchuk, an independent candidate, blasted the agreement.
“Monopolistic deals like this are a huge part of what makes health care so expensive in Massachusetts, and it’s time for them to stop. Partners has already amassed enormous market power, which has translated into spiraling health care premiums for everyone. This deal does nothing to change that, and in fact allows Partners to close on a massive acquisition that will further strengthen its market dominance.”
Republican Charlie Baker, a former chief executive of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, called the agreement a good start and added that, to truly lower costs, “Massachusetts must insist on full price transparency from all providers for all services from all payers.”
Here's the notice from the Court and the submission address, should anyone need it:
By the way, will the Attorney General post all comments received on her website, along with her response?
The last public comment I have seen from Steve Grossman was this:
“This deal apparently represents a common-sense solution that will continue to deliver quality care to residents of the South Shore as well as control health care costs for consumers and employers."
Don Berwick said this:
“It essentially makes permanent Partners’ already unacceptably high costs without requiring the reduction in prices that is needed, tying the state to a fundamentally flawed pricing structure for the future. The reforms the state needs are much more fundamental.”
According to that same news report, other candidates have opined as follows:
Evan Falchuk, an independent candidate, blasted the agreement.
“Monopolistic deals like this are a huge part of what makes health care so expensive in Massachusetts, and it’s time for them to stop. Partners has already amassed enormous market power, which has translated into spiraling health care premiums for everyone. This deal does nothing to change that, and in fact allows Partners to close on a massive acquisition that will further strengthen its market dominance.”
Republican Charlie Baker, a former chief executive of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, called the agreement a good start and added that, to truly lower costs, “Massachusetts must insist on full price transparency from all providers for all services from all payers.”
Here's the notice from the Court and the submission address, should anyone need it:
By the way, will the Attorney General post all comments received on her website, along with her response?
Thanks for posting Judge Sanders’ notice about submitting statements about the AG’s agreement with Partners. It should be helpful. I’d phoned the AG’s office to ask how—and to whom—to submit a statement. It took a long time to obtain half the answer.
ReplyDeleteI mailed my comment this morning. Hopefully, it will arrive by the deadline. Thanks for the posting.
ReplyDelete