To address the current list of healthcare challenges, state officials should create one in the new year cabinetTreasury secretaries at the highest level, according to a new report, limit the allowable growth in out-of-pocket consumer insurance costs and develop a 10-year plan for the healthcare workforce.
The Massachusetts Foundation’s Blue Cross Blue Shield framed his report as priorities for the new governor-elect’s administration Maura Healeywho is due to take office in less than a month and begin work on public policy and spending measures with those controlled by Democrats House and Senate. The report’s authors based their conclusions on feedback they received from a “broad and diverse” group of healthcare stakeholders and leaders identified in the report’s methodology annex during interviews conducted between February and May.
Ensuring affordability for consumers was one of five priorities identified in the report. According to the report compiled with the help of manat health41% of residents reported that they or their families had had health care affordability issues in the past 12 months, and a third of middle-class families Massachusetts with employer-sponsored insurance spend more than a quarter of their income on health care.
The report recommends expanding ConnectorCare’s eligibility to include more low-income people and funding a new “affordable coverage program” for low-income immigrants who cannot access government-funded programs such as MassHealth or the Affordable Care Act Health Connector Authority.
From a regulatory point of view, the report calls for an increase in state powers Health Policy Commission, which has a cost control mandate. Recommendations include giving the agency more powers to enforce compliance with cost growth benchmarks, including price caps for providers in benchmarks, as other states have done, and annual growth in consumer premiums, deductibles, and co-payments through the creation of a benchmark for consumer cost growth.
Tackling systemic racism and health inequities is another key recommendation, and the report calls for new legislation to overhaul the structure of state government to ensure a vision of justice is implemented across departments and agencies. A new finance minister who a Executive Office of Equity at Cabinet level is one recommendation, as well as the creation of equity bureaus within the nine others cabinet Secretariats.
According to the report, blacks and Hispanics are more than twice as likely to be uninsured, less likely to report excellent or very good health, and more likely to report “fair or poor” mental health than whites.
The report calls on world leaders to “innovate ways in creating a culture of governance and an approach to health policy development that includes a diversity of people with lived experience – community members and community leaders – who can help world leaders understand the causes and Understand the implications of these challenges and get involved in co-creating solutions.”
The other three main priorities are tackling the mental health crisis affecting children and young people, alleviating the ‘critical’ health workforce shortage and improving access to long-term services and support, including long-term care.
The report says that between 2016 and 2020, the proportion of children aged 3 to 17 in Massachusetts suffering from anxiety or depression increased from 12.2% to 18.4%, a 50% increase. She anonymously quotes a “health plan leader” as saying, “We can no longer allow ourselves to say, ‘Children are resilient.’ That was an excuse for inaction.”
The report recommends setting up a children’s and young people’s cabinet to improve the mental health of children and young people; Develop a 10-year workforce plan that prioritizes long-term support and services, long-term care, and behavioral health; and promoting the acquisition of private long-term care insurance through a state long-term care partnership program while standardizing state oversight of long-term care beneficiary protection and rates.
“With the new government taking shape Beacon Hillwe aim to advance action to address today’s most pressing healthcare challenges,” Audrey Shelto, President and CEO of the BCBS of Mass. Foundation said in a statement. “Fortunately, leaders don’t have to start from scratch, as many of the action steps identified in our report build on existing or proposed initiatives. However, tackling these issues requires bold leadership, a collaborative approach and a long-term focus investment.”
