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The Crushing Burden of Municipal Retiree Health Care Liabilities

abagley — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 07:52:47 -0600

The average single family homeowner in 10 of the state’s most economically vulnerable cities would need to pay an astonishing $13,685 today or absorb a crippling 20 percent property tax hike over the next 30 years to subsidize billions in unfunded retiree health care liabilities, according to a new report by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

Boston Globe OP-ED: Don't Overreach on Health Cuts

abagley — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 12:58:48 -0500

In their zeal to control health care costs, state lawmakers run the risk of causing serious damage to the health care sector, arguably the most important segment of the Massachusetts economy and certainly the most notable exception to the state’s dreadful job record over the past decade.

MTF Analysis: Enhanced Retiree Benefits Would Undercut Municipal Health Reform

abagley — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 09:14:02 -0500

Dozens of communities across the state would lose the benefits of municipal health care reform under the Senate’s provision requiring that municipal contributions for retirees be the same as for active employees, according to a preliminary analysis by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. The Foundation has identified 50 municipalities and regional school districts that would be impacted, with that number likely to be as high as 100 when all communities have been analyzed.

MTF Analysis Shows Huge Savings for Cities and Towns Under Health Plan Design Approved by the House

abagley — Tue, 10 May 2011 08:56:26 -0500

Broad coalition commends House leadership for passage of municipal health care reform

abagley — Tue, 03 May 2011 10:28:47 -0500

Backed by a broad coalition of business, civic, and education organizations, on April 26 the House took bold action to provide desperately needed fiscal relief to cities and towns by giving municipal leaders the same flexibility as the state to control their soaring health care costs and preserve vital municipal jobs.

Municipal Retiree Health Care Liabilities in Massachusetts - Sorted by Population Size

abagley — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:39:47 -0500

To supplement our report on retiree health care liabilities, the Foundation is in the process of collecting such data for all cities and towns in Massachusetts. This spreadsheet includes new data from 50 additional municipalities, along with updated data for some of the largest 50 municipalities. This spreadsheet will be updated regularly.

Municipal Retiree Health Care Liabilities in Massachusetts - Listed Alphabetically

abagley — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:36:57 -0500

Municipal Health Plans: Gilded Benefits from a Bygone Era

abagley — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 12:02:23 -0500

Municipal employee health care plans in Massachusetts are far more costly and generous than other employer-sponsored plans in the Commonwealth, according to Municipal Health Plans: Gilded Benefits from a Bygone Era, a new report released today by The Boston Foundation and the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. This report is the first to compare specific health care plans from 14 diverse communities with plans offered to state, federal, and private sector employees in Massachusetts.

Retiree Health Care: The Brick That Broke Municipalities’ Backs

abagley — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 08:53:20 -0600

The 50 largest cities and towns in Massachusetts face a crushing $20 billion liability for retiree health care benefits that threatens to wreak havoc with local government services, according to a new report released today by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

The report, Retiree Health Care: The Brick That Broke Municipalities’ Backs, is the first analysis of municipal retiree health care liabilities in Massachusetts. The $20 billion represents what these governments must pay in today’s dollars for the lifetime health care benefits already earned by 150,000 current employees and retirees in the 50 communities.

An Open Letter to Legislators and Candidates

abagley — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:49:49 -0500

The Foundation calls on legislators and candidates to address the unsustainable increase in municipal costs of health care and pensions that are leading to layoffs of teachers, police and firefighters and recommends a series of changes that would save hundreds of millions of dollars annually in the short term growing to billions by 2020.

Urgent Legislative Action Needed to Address Soaring Municipal Health Care Costs

abagley — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 08:10:49 -0500

In a letter to conferees, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation urges legislators to reject the Senate proposal to address the issue of soaring municipal health care costs and take decisive action to provide municipal relief. Cities and towns should have unfettered powers over health plan design, consistent with the state, in order to protect municipal jobs and services.

Op-ed: Caps hurt health system

abagley — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:42:36 -0600

Controlling health care costs is a hugely complicated undertaking. In our collective frustration with the complexity of the challenge, let's not take actions that will only make the problem worse. Arbitrary price controls have a superficial appeal, but the economic and other consequences could be far-reaching and permanent.

A Great Success

abagley — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 08:51:07 -0500

A special section on health care in the Wall Street Journal of October 27, 2009 included two opinion pieces debating the merits of Massachusetts' health reform law, with MTF President Michael J. Widmer describing the law's success at achieving near universal health insurance coverage. Despite the efforts of ideologues, academics and politicians to discredit the reform, the facts tell the story of the law's enormous accomplishments.

Health law costs aren’t the problem

abagley — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 06:45:59 -0500

Despite claims to the contrary, the Foundation's recently released analysis of the costs to taxpayers of achieving near-universal access to health care showed that the average yearly increase was only $88 million, well within original estimates. Because of health reform, employee-sponsored enrollment has grown by 150,000 and individuals private coverage by 40,000 adding at least $750 million in costs to Massachusetts employers. Critics ignore the fact that the fundamental problem is not the costs of Commonwealth Care but rather the unprecedented collapse of state tax revenues.

Massachusetts Health Reform: The Myth of Uncontrollable Costs

abagley — Tue, 19 May 2009 10:38:59 -0500

Despite a public perception that the state's landmark health care reform law has turned out to be unaffordable, a new analysis by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation finds that the cost to taxpayers of achieving near universal coverage has been relatively modest and well within initial projections of how much the state would have to spend to implement reform, in part because many of the newly insured have enrolled in employer-sponsored plans at no public expense.

The Foundation report concludes that state spending on the reform has increased by $350 million between fiscal 2006, the last year before reform, and fiscal 2010 - an average annual increase of only $88 million.

MTF Recommendations: Saving $1 Billion in Unaffordable Health Care Costs at the MBTA

abagley — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 08:54:41 -0500

The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation unveiled a blueprint for the MBTA to save more than $1 billion in spending on health benefits over the next 20 years. The report, MTF Recommendations: Saving $1 Billion in Unaffordable Health Care Costs at the MBTA, makes six recommendations to bring MBTA health benefits into line with those provided state employees and which could be implemented by July 1, 2009.

Foundation Testimony before the Special Municipal Relief Commission

abagley — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 12:37:45 -0600

The cities and towns of Massachusetts are facing a relentless fiscal squeeze in which year after year costs are growing faster than revenues for almost all communities.

Employer Fair Share Contribution

abagley — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 09:09:37 -0500

MTF urges the administration to withdraw proposed changes to the fair share formula - the changes ignore the enormous contributions of employers and threaten the future of health care reform by upsetting the balance of shared responsibility.

Letter from 23 Business Groups to House Speaker DiMasi and Senate President Murray

abagley — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:40:32 -0500

On behalf of a broad group of business organizations and health plans committed to ensuring access to quality and affordable health care in the Commonwealth, we are writing to express our strong opposition to the provisions imposing new assessments and taxes to fund the state's Health Care Reform Law.

An Analysis of the Essential Role of Employers in Massachusetts Health Care Reform

dlind — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:31:31 -0500

Massachusetts employers will spend an estimated $175 million a year for additional employee coverage under the state's health care reform law, according to a report released by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. The report analyzes the broad scope of employer participation that is critical to the success of Massachusetts health care reform.