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Families, physicians fear what Medicaid cuts could mean for children in Massachusetts – The Boston Globe

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Families, physicians fear what Medicaid cuts could mean for children in Massachusetts – The Boston Globe


Now, parents, policy makers, and health providers are holding their breath as Republicans in Congress weigh potentially billions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid. Federal dollars pay for more than half of MassHealth’s $20 billion annual budget.

“MassHealth is a cornerstone for children’s health in Massachusetts,“ said Katherine Howitt, director of the Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute, an independent policy analysis program of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation.

The consequences of significant cuts to Medicaid, and the potential for voter outrage, have some doubtful Congress will ultimately cut from the public insurance program.

The information coming out of Washington is too vague to act upon, said Mike Levine, assistant secretary for MassHealth.

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“We do not have specific contingency plans around what services we offer kids and what we might do if Congress or CMS takes actions we don’t like,” he said in an interview Monday.

Still, the possibility frightens Bernard. When her daughter, Victoria, was 2, before doctors had figured out what prescriptions and dosages would best control her epilepsy, she routinely had multiple seizures a week, her mother said. The child’s speech is delayed, but with the therapy MassHealth pays for, she is learning to express herself verbally.

“Without MassHealth I don’t know how I would do,” Bernard said. “I’m very concerned about it.”

Congressional Republicans have said they want to balance tax cuts by, in part, eliminating $880 billion in federal spending over 10 years. Leading Republicans, including President Trump, have said that won’t include cuts to Medicaid benefits. US House Speaker Mike Johnson has said his party is seeking only to reduce “fraud, waste, and abuse.”

But experts on health policy say there’s no way Republicans can achieve their budget goals without impacting Medicaid. At more than $600 billion a year, the program is among the federal government’s largest expenses.

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“We know that the only way to achieve $880 billion in cuts is through catastrophic cuts to the Medicaid program as we know it,” said Megan Cole Brahim, a Boston University professor and co-director of the school’s Medicaid Policy Lab. “There’s really no way it wouldn’t have harmful implications for children.”

Massachusetts expanded MassHealth in 2006 to include children in households earning up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level, extending coverage to more children than in all but a few states.

As of 2023, only 0.6 percent of Massachusetts children were uninsured, according to a report from the state Center for Health Information and Analysis on insurance coverage in the state.

The state’s post-pandemic review of MassHealth eligibility led to about 363,000 people removed from membership last year, including almost 59,000 children ages 17 and younger, the state reported.

Even if Congress took a hatchet to Medicaid, Cole Brahim said she anticipated Massachusetts would seek to protect children from the brunt of the consequences. Officials could be forced to reduce access to some optional benefits, such as physical therapy, case management, and community health workers, and could reduce the kinds of prescription drugs, or the dosage amounts, covered by MassHealth.

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Losing even partial Medicaid reimbursements would be devastating to community health centers and hospitals. On average, the health centers receive about 31 percent of their revenue from MassHealth, according to the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers. MassHealth paid about 18 percent of all hospital revenue in the state as of 2022, according to the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation. Boston Children’s Hospital reported roughly 46 percent of its Massachusetts patients are MassHealth members. Substantial cuts to Medicaid, hospital officials said, would create financial aftershocks that would affect every patient in the hospital.

“The danger for any children’s hospital in the country, [if] you start cutting Medicaid, you’re going to affect care delivery for every patient,” said Joshua Greenberg, Boston Children’s vice president of government relations.

On Monday, Governor Maura Healey and her partner, Joanna Lydgate, toured Children’s to highlight how potential cuts to Medicaid, as well as halts to millions in National Institutes of Health research grants, could affect patients. Kevin B. Churchwell, the hospital’s president and chief executive, said federal funding cuts have already disrupted clinical trials and research, including work with vaccines.

“We have patients in clinical trials who had their treatments stop because of this,” Healey said. “Can you imagine the cruelty of that?”

Among the groups Medicaid supports, including seniors and some people with disabilities, children are a relatively inexpensive clientele. They account for about 16 percent of the state’s total MassHealth expense. The families of some children enrolled also have private insurance but rely on MassHealth as secondary coverage to help with medical-related bills their insurer doesn’t cover.

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For many children, MassHealth membership means more than covered doctor visits. The program pays whatever is needed to ensure children with disabilities have the equipment, care, and support they need. It allows children to receive Medicaid-covered services through their school’s health services and pays for behavioral health care in the community or home.

In addition, families on MassHealth get screenings to identify dental, aural, visual, or developmental concerns. Such wide-ranging and widely accessible insurance coverage can benefit children their whole lives. Children with good health care do better in school, a 2021 Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation report stated, and those with access to Medicaid tend to have fewer hospital stays, emergency room visits, and chronic conditions in adulthood.

Victoria Bernard’s doctor, Laura Livaditis, director of pediatrics at Mattapan Community Health Center, said about 90 percent of the children treated at the center are enrolled in MassHealth. Most of her patients are also from families living at or below the poverty line. MassHealth’s wide-ranging coverage has helped them to avoid evictions, she said. And for immigrants, the program has helped them make connections to ensure they have stable food and housing.

“I’m continuously impressed with the breadth and depth of services MassHealth covers for my patients,” Livaditis said. “I can’t remember the last time I had to fight with [MassHealth] insurance for needed services.”

Correspondent Emily Spatz contributed to this report.

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Jason Laughlin can be reached at jason.laughlin@globe.com. Follow him @jasmlaughlin.





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3 hospitalized after vehicle crashes into Danvers business

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3 hospitalized after vehicle crashes into Danvers business


A vehicle crashed into a hair salon in Danvers, Massachusetts, leaving three people injured on Thursday.

Police said the crash happened shortly before 3:30 p.m. at Beijo Beauty on Newbury Street.

Three people inside the business suffered injuries that are believed to be non-life-threatening, police said. All three were taken by ambulance to local hospitals.

A fire official at the scene said the three patients’ injuries are considered minor. The building was evacuated after the crash.

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One customer told NBC10 Boston she stood with an injured person while someone called 911, adding that her own car had been damaged.

“I was done, I was just about to get up. If I had been in my car, I would have gotten really hurt,” she said. “My car got totaled.”

Police did not say whether the driver would face any charges.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

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Healey administration vows to appeal as Trump rejects Massachusetts blizzard aid request – The Boston Globe

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Healey administration vows to appeal as Trump rejects Massachusetts blizzard aid request – The Boston Globe


Governor Maura Healey said in a statement that she was “deeply disappointed” by the president’s decision and would keep fighting to secure federal dollars for Massachusetts.

“Our first responders, public works crews, and local communities worked around the clock to keep people safe and begin recovery,” she said. “They did their job, and now President Trump needs to do his.”

Climate advocates say the denial — which came on the same day that Trump rejected three other Democrat-led states’ requests for winter storm relief — reflects the administration’s politicization of disaster aid.

“Communities in Massachusetts and everywhere deserve a federal government that makes decisions for all people, and not just those that they perceive as having voted for them,” said Kate Sinding Daly, senior vice president for law and policy at the Conservation Law Foundation.

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The president can declare a major disaster when a natural catastrophe is shown to have exceeded a state’s capabilities and resources. An analysis conducted by POLITICO in March found that it is three times harder for blue states than red states to get disaster funding under Trump.

According to the analysis, the president has approved just 23 percent of disaster funding requests from states with a Democratic governor and two Democratic senators, compared with 89 percent of requests from states represented by Republicans — an unprecedented discrepancy.

The analysis also found that Trump takes an average of 80 days to respond to disaster requests from Democrat-led states, compared to 39 for Republicans.

Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, strongly disputed that the Trump administration was politicizing decisions on disaster relief. She did not comment on why Trump denied Massachusetts’ request.

“President Trump provides a more thorough review of disaster declaration requests than any Administration has before him,” she said in a statement. She said the president was ensuring tax dollars were used by states “to supplement — not substitute, their obligation to respond to and recover from disasters.”

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Former Washington governor Jay Inslee described the president’s approach to disaster aid as “outrageous, immoral, and illegal.” During Trump’s first term, the president reportedly ignored Inslee’s request for wildfire relief because of a personal dispute.

He will consciously, willfully, and joyfully deny people aid who are at the most difficult moments of their lives,” said Inslee, who co-chairs the advocacy group Climate Power. “It is so infuriating to see an American president use disaster aid as a cudgel.”

The Healey administration announced in early April that it had requested a major disaster declaration for the February blizzard. It sought to reimburse state agencies and local governments in the southeastern part of the state for snow removal and other storm-related costs. The blizzard downed hundreds of power lines and trees, and nearly 300,000 people lost power at the peak of the storm.

Last week, Trump rejected disaster declaration requests from four Democrat-led states who had sought aid for the February storm: Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, and New Jersey. The president’s decision came just days after he approved aid for six Republican-led states.

“Trump is either politicizing disaster declarations or he is attacking states where it snows — neither is good,” wrote Senator Ed Markey in a social media post. “The February blizzard was costly for our communities, and Trump must approve the Commonwealth’s need for assistance.”

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Senator Elizabeth Warren said a statement that the president’s decision was “cruel and makes clear he doesn’t see himself as a president for all Americans.”

“Communities in Massachusetts were hit by one of the worst storms we’ve seen in decades, and instead of sending a lifeline, the President is leaving everyday Americans out to dry,” she added.

Rhode Island officials also slammed the Trump administration for denying the state’s request. The winter storm hit the state with the intensity of a Category 2 hurricane. Providence had to cap spending for the rest of the fiscal year after record-setting snow.

The state’s congressional delegation — Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Senator Jack Reed, Representative Seth Magaziner, and Representative Gabe Amo — wrote a letter calling on the president to reverse the denial. A preliminary assessment found more than $19 million in damages across the state, the letter said.

“You chose to leave Rhode Islanders out in the cold,” the lawmakers wrote.

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Meanwhile, the president approved a major disaster declaration for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe in Massachusetts related to the February blizzard. (Federally recognized tribal governments can directly request a disaster declaration.)

Additionally, FEMA announced on Thursday that it had approved nearly $5.7 million for projects to reduce future disaster costs in New England, including more than $1 million for Massachusetts projects combating flooding.


Kate Selig can be reached at kate.selig@globe.com. Follow her on X @kate_selig.





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Is new construction right for you? There are benefits to buying a brand-new home in Massachusetts.

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Is new construction right for you? There are benefits to buying a brand-new home in Massachusetts.


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A recent report from Realtor.com found that buyers of newly built homes in Massachusetts save an average of $38,927 over the first 10 years of ownership.

The Davis model home at Toll Brothers at The Pinehills in Plymouth is a two-story townhouse. Toll Brothers and Jack Vatcher Photography

If you’re in the market for a new build, you may be attracted to the modern floor plans, state-of-the-art technology, and resort-style amenities many of them offer. But you might not realize that there are financial benefits to buying new construction.

A recent report from Realtor.com found that buyers of newly built homes save an average of $25,335 over the first 10 years of ownership compared to buyers of 20-year-old homes. Those savings are even greater in Massachusetts, which topped the state-by-state list at savings of $38,927 over 10 years, due to the state’s strict building codes and harsh winters. Neighboring New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, and Vermont rounded out the top five.

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But in Greater Boston, where much of the new-home inventory consists of luxury condominiums, buyers still have to balance those long-term savings with higher upfront purchase prices and steep condominium association assessments.

Ryan J. Glass, vice president of Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty in Boston, said that in the first quarter of 2026, luxury full-service buildings citywide averaged approximately $1,698 per square foot, while many of Boston’s historic brownstone neighborhoods generally landed in the $1,200- to $1,500-per-square-foot range. That means that a buyer with a $3 million budget may be looking at 1,750 to 1,800 square feet in a new luxury tower compared to 2,200 to 2,400 square feet in a comparable renovated brownstone, he said.

Ellyn Hartmayer, 60, and her husband, John Hartmayer, 58, looked at more than 75 properties — both new construction and existing — before purchasing a 2,875-square-foot Back Bay condominium for $3.25 million in May. The unit has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a private terrace with views of the Charles River Esplanade. It’s located in a 10-unit building that was constructed in 1950. While the couple initially considered buying a new unit in a luxury high-rise because of the modern amenities, they “became increasingly focused on where the best long-term value was,” Ellyn said Hartmayer. After a lengthy search, they found a unique property in the Back Bay that offered everything they wanted: single-level living, extra space for their children to visit, elevator access, garage parking, and private outdoor space.

“The combination of a prime location, square footage, value, and potential ultimately outweighed the appeal of a newer building,” said Ellyn Hartmayer.

In Massachusetts, the median price of a new-build is 46.7 percent more than the median price of an existing home, according to Joel Berner, Realtor.com’s senior economist.

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“If you buy a new home in Massachusetts, you’ll recoup savings over time because of the harsh climate and building codes,” Berner said. “But you will have spent so much more upfront that it may or may not actually break even.”

This new home is located at Toll Brothers at The Pinehills – Owls Nest, a single-family community in Plymouth featuring six floor plans, all with first-floor primary bedrooms and open concept designs. – Toll Brothers and Shawn May Photography

Builder concessions can even the playing field. According to a recent survey by the National Association of Home Builders, 64 percent of builders offered sales incentives, and 37 percent actually cut new-construction prices. Many are offering buydowns on mortgage rates as well.

“If you can only afford a $500,000 existing home, maybe in the new construction space, with the 10-year savings, builder concessions, and a mortgage rate buydown, you can afford $575,000,” said Berner. “Don’t just look at the sticker price. Look at your long-term monthly cash flow, and potentially you might have more wiggle room in your budget for new construction than you thought.”

Glass tells his buyer clients the same thing. “Consider which property is the better value for your budget, as well as the location,” he said. “Sometimes a market is saturated with new construction, so you can get a better deal on it. Other times, new construction is hard to find, and you can’t get as good a deal as you could on existing construction. Keep your options open.”

Some buyers also feel that the higher price of new buildings is justified by things like a concierge, a fitness center, or valet parking, Glass added.

Indeed, a newly built home offers some advantages:

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It’s move-in ready. It’s new and has never been lived in. You’ll have new fixtures, new appliances, and you’ll receive a builder’s warranty to protect you, and won’t need major repairs for several years. “Today’s new homes are built better than ever,” said Ryan O’Rourke, division president for luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers in Massachusetts.

It will be built to the latest building code and will be more energy-efficient than an older home.

The insurance will cost less, assuming you don’t purchase on Cape Cod or another coastal area. “New homes have brand-new roofs, electrical systems, plumbing, HVAC equipment, and other major components that are less likely to fail and generate claims,” said Loretta L. Worters, vice president of the Insurance Information Institute. “By contrast, older homes may have aging roofs, outdated wiring, older plumbing systems, or deferred maintenance issues that increase the likelihood of claims and can result in higher premiums.”

Newer homes come with modern floor plans. Older homes can be dark with small rooms, while new construction will reflect current design trends (like open floor plans and kitchens with large islands) and the way people live now.

You can make it your own. Builders usually give buyers the opportunity to customize their new homes, choosing everything from the model and lot it sits on to cabinets, countertops, flooring, and appliances.

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Profile image for Robyn A. Friedman

Robyn A. Friedman is an award-winning freelance writer who has covered real estate and personal finance for over two decades. Follow her @robynafriedman.





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