Voters in a few towns across Franklin County will be asked to weigh in on a resolution in support of “An Act Establishing Medicare for All in Massachusetts” (S.860/H.1405) at their respective Annual Town Meetings this spring.
Residents in Bernardston, Colrain and Heath have submitted citizen’s petitions seeking voter support for single-payer health care on the Town Meeting floor. If passed, the resolution acknowledges that the town supports the bill, under review by state legislators, that would create a state health care trust fund to replace health insurance companies.
Bernardston resident Louise Legouis told the Selectboard last month that she had collected 15 signatures on her citizen’s petition — five more than the required 10 signatures to place the proposal on the warrant for the April 29 Annual Town Meeting. Meanwhile, in Heath, residents are working with the town to draft language for the May 9 Annual Town Meeting warrant, and in Colrain, resident David Greenberg has scheduled a public information session to answer voter questions on Monday, April 13.
As health care costs continue to soar, Legouis said a system that is funded and managed by the state could save Bernardston an estimated $100,000 on insurance for its 14 employees, as well as provide savings for residents on their own health care costs.
“This legislation is currently pending in Massachusetts. It’s not the first time it’s been proposed. This bill, which we can refer to as Mass-Care, has been in the works for 30 years,” Legouis explained. “There’s no time like the present. We all are very well aware of the rising costs of health care and the difficulty that it represents in individuals’ finances, but also in town budgets.”
David Cohen, who serves on the board of directors for the Mass-Care single-payer health care advocacy group, has said that eliminating health insurance companies and having the state bargain and negotiate with health care providers and pharmaceutical companies could provide billions in savings.
Cohen, at a forum on single-payer health care in Greenfield last summer, discussed an analysis done by University of Massachusetts Amherst economics professor Gerald Friedman that projected the legislation could reduce health insurance spending by $48.42 billion. After factoring in approximately $11 billion in improvements across the state’s health care systems, Massachusetts would likely see a net savings of $37.36 billion.
“We’re really looking at why you could save so much money. You eliminate all that profit that the insurance companies make right now, which is billions of dollars,” Cohen said. He noted that the study was done two years ago, and that, “with the prices on everything skyrocketing,” it’s cut into the potential benefit, but “we’d still be saving a lot of money.”
Bernardston Selectboard member Ken Bordewick asked how doctors’ offices would afford to stay open without private insurance revenue, to which Cohen said that funding from the Massachusetts trust would replace that insurance revenue.
Legouis added that doctors would be able to cut down on administrative costs if they did not have to negotiate with insurance companies, and that the trust system would provide stability for patients and providers.
“The whole system is based on this constant system of negotiations and uncertainty. So the patients never know exactly how much they’re going to get covered, and the doctors have to negotiate with the insurance companies and there’s a great deal of administrative costs involved,” Legouis said. “What we’re proposing instead is to simplify the system so that we can cut out the uncertainty, cut out the expensive administration negotiation and cut out the extensive deep profits that benefit a couple of industries and not the health care system. The health care system shouldn’t be really focused on profit-making.”
In Heath, the Selectboard voted earlier this month to include a resolution supporting Medicare for All on its Annual Town Meeting warrant, as requested by resident Stan Swiercz. Selectboard members also indicated that if town voters approve the article, they would be willing to write a letter of support as well.
In Colrain, Greenberg, who put forth the citizen’s petition that will be considered at the May 5 Annual Town Meeting, has scheduled an information session on Monday, April 13, at 6:30 p.m. at the Griswold Memorial Library.
“A single-payer, Medicare for All system would replace our many corporate health insurance companies with a public, universal plan,” Greenberg said in a statement. “Individuals and employers will no longer pay private companies for health care coverage. Instead, employees will pay a 2.5% tax. Employers will pay a 7.5% to 8% payroll tax, depending on size. All health care services would be covered. There would be no premiums, copays or out-of-pocket costs. Every Massachusetts resident would be enrolled.”
Greenberg said the resolution is similar to the one approved by Colrain voters in 2018, but people can come to the information session to ask questions and learn more about what Medicare for All is and how it would impact the towns’ budgets.
“This is a non-binding resolution, but endorsement of the House and Senate bills, ‘An Act Establishing Medicare for All’ (S.860 and H.1405), will send a clear message to Boston,” Greenberg said, “that there is a much better way to provide health care to our residents while also saving money for the commonwealth, our town and our residents.”