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News of the Day ... In Perspective11/25/2006Massachusetts costs 4th-highest; psychiatric hospitals stop admitting Massachusetts costs for medical, dental, and dependent health coverage reached $9,428 per year in 2006, exceeded only in Alaska, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin, according to a survey by Merced Health & Benefits. This represents an increase of 8.2 percent over 2005, the ninth highest rate of increase in the nation. Massachusetts lags in adopting consumer-directed health plans that require members to contribute to the first dollar of cost. �We need to do something about this or it threatens the viability of our new healthcare reform law,� said Richard C. Lord, chief executive of Associated Industries of Massachusetts (Jeffrey Krasner, Boston Globe 11/20/06). As a result of Gov. Mitt Romney�s emergency budget cuts, mental health patients will face a rough Thanksgiving. State psychiatric hospitals responded by announcing that they will stop admitting new patients on Nov 22, until the patient population dwindles enough to be cared for by a smaller staff. In addition, cuts will eliminate 37 percent of staffers who care for hundreds of emotionally disturbed children and reduce funding for medical school research. The freeze on admissions �will block up the entire mental health system,� said Toby Fisher, executive director of the Massachusetts branch of the National Association on Mental Illness. Gov. Romney�s spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom, defended the cuts, stating that �any good manager should be able to absorb a 1.1 percent cut through payroll and administration.� He said that budget experts would work with the department to �put forth a more realistic plan� (Boston Globe 11/21/06). Additional information:
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