Healthcare

Prescription Drug Coupons

A quick way to lower the cost of prescription drugs is to allow Massachusetts residents to use coupons on their prescription drugs. This is allowed in every state except Massachusetts.  These coupons could in some cases save patients up to 75 percent on their co-pay for common medications. The residents of Lynn, Lynnfield, Saugus, and Wakefield deserve the same discounts on their prescription drugs that residents of other states receive.

Source: "http://boston.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2010/03/29/daily24.html" http://boston.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2010/03/29/daily24.html

Preventative Care

Healthcare means maintaining your optimal health, and that starts by taking care of yourself, at home, at work, and having a community that helps further that goal.  The state should offer tax incentives for employers who provide work-site wellness programs and for individuals who participate in these programs. Further by allowing individuals to pursue alternative forms of care without arbitrary limits placed on them by insurance companies, individuals can pursue better options for healthcare treatment.

Insurance Competition and Choice

We must be wary of and prevent unfair competitive advantages and monopolistic and abusive practices that exist in the current healthcare system.

A way to lower the cost of health insurance is to create competition in the health insurance market. Our citizens should have access to the broadest array of policies and carriers.  Allowing Massachusetts residents to have the option to opt of their employer plan for another plan they find creates market driven downward pressure on healthcare costs.  One could choose to take part or all of their employer contribution with them.  If only part is taken with them, the residual could be split between the employer and the employee.

This idea is similar to the federal Wyden amendment, where anyone with access to employer-sponsored insurance could decline and enroll in a policy available through the Commonwealth Connector.

By empowering Massachusetts residents to choose from a broad selection of insurance options, those health insurance companies that charge affordable rates with good coverage will attract more customers, while those that treat customers poorly, constantly raising their prices and/while declining coverage, will go out of business.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/opinion/17wyden.html