Gov. Patrick promises health-care cost ... - Health and Fitness

Gov. Deval L. Patrick told Boston business leaders this morning that by the time he returns to speak to them again next year, Massachusetts will have the best health-care cost-containment system in the country to match what he said it has already, the highest access rates to medical care in the nation.

Lawmakers will pass some combination of bills put forward by the chief executive, the House and the Senate, he said. And he is confident the result will be an improvement, whatever the mixture of ideas turns out to be, despite jabs the state?s health-care system may have received in the presidential race.

?The question for me is not whether there is a role for government. The question is, what is the role for government,? Patrick said to a packed Seaport Hotel audience of members of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. ?Just as the public and private sectors came together to solve health-care access, we are going to find a solution together to containing health-care costs. We have already shown we can, the problem is how we can sustain it for the next decade and beyond.?

The governor was greeted warmly by chamber President and CEO Paul Guzzi, who put continuing health-care cost reform front and center as the top issue for his members and the business community in general.

He praised Patrick for his willingness to hear the concerns of businesses and to work with them on health care and other issues.

?We have enjoyed a working relationship which we think has been very, very productive,? said Guzzi.

Patrick said many of the solutions to the state?s health-care improvements and cost containment will come from the hospitals, doctors and others working in that industry itself, all of whom have the closest knowledge of their own industry.

?I am proud of the strong partnership we have built and am certain we will reach a good legislative conclusion together in the next few weeks. And I have no doubt that the future of health care as a business in Massachusetts is bright,? he told his audience. ?We have challenged each other to make a big change. That?s what we do in Massachusetts. I know we can accomplish this. My confidence comes from the undeniable fact that, working together with many of you in this room, we have addressed problem after tough problem that had been talked about and yet left unsolved for decades.?

And while the governor was received well by the business crowd, there were voices who expressed concern over problems yet to be resolved in the legislation.

Lynn Nicholas of the Massachusetts Hospital Association rose to challenge Patrick?s assertion that health-care costs might even be able to drop below the level of growth for the state economy in general.

?We are committed to get total health-care spending down to the level of the economy, we just need a reasonable glide path,? Nicholas told the governor and members of his audience. ?We are very, very concerned about dropping below the level of the economy.?

Regulators need to consider the costs paid by health-care providers for other necessary services, she told Patrick. ?There?s been a lot of discussion about health-care costs but no discussions about energy prices, electricity and so on,? Nicholas said.

Responding to questions after his address, Patrick defended his plan to give more direction to the state?s community colleges to increase transferability of credits between schools and direct them to provide training needed by businesses that have vacant jobs. Some chambers of commerce outside Boston and the community colleges themselves have resisted more centralized control.

?This is something other states competing with us do very well, states like North Carolina, Texas and even New Hampshire,? the governor said.

Article source: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view/20220515gov_patrick_promises_health-care_cost_containment/

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