Latest news with #JonHurst
CBS News
6 days ago
- Business
- CBS News
Keller: Healey cutting some red tape for businesses but people on both sides want more
The opinions expressed below are Jon Keller's, not those of WBZ, CBS News or Paramount Global. Gov. Maura Healey is cutting red tape for businesses in Massachusetts, saying it will keep the state competitive but people from across the political spectrum want her to do more. The time and expense of dealing with bureaucratic red tape is a nightmare for many businesses. Eliminates old business regulations And on Wednesday, Healey fed a batch of state regulations to a paper shredder, saying it will help keep the state competitive. "Who doesn't love the striped pole outside a barbershop?" she said. "State law required a barbershop to actually hang a frickin' pole right outside the thing." No longer. Just one of scores of archaic business regulations being discarded by the Healey administration. The message: "These changes are going to save businesses time, they're going to save businesses money, and you know who's gonna benefit? Customers," said the governor. The shredding drew praise from some business leaders. "Your two predecessors - one Democrat [Deval Patrick], one Republican [Charlie Baker] - also announced regulatory reform efforts at the beginning of their terms. Sixteen years later nothing had occurred," recounted Jon Hurst, head of the Massachusetts Retailers Association. Groups want Healey to do more But to Chris Anderson, CEO of the Massachusetts High Technology Council, Healey's shredding party is "a good news story, however it's really marginal at best." He says it's far more important that Healey ease unemployment insurance costs and the burden on taxpayers of rising state spending. "What the governor should be leading right now with the support of many of those who care a lot about Massachusetts is to rein in the rate of growth on state spending to a rate that is more equivalent to what taxpayers are seeing their paychecks do from year to year," said Anderson. By contrast, Viviana Abreu-Hernandez, head of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, wants Healey, who backed the so-called Millionaire's Tax, to support economic growth with a new tax on foreign corporations doing business here. "If we have seen progressive taxation to bring enough revenue to the state to make significant investments in transportation and education, why are we not promoting more progressive taxation at the corporate level?" she asked. As she did when she ran the first time, Healey wants to find the middle ground that made Baker so popular, supporting some tax cuts and cutting red tape while also backing other tax hikes and expanding the budget. She hasn't said yet if she supports that new corporate tax, but with all sorts of red lights flashing on the state's fiscal dashboard, that will likely be an election-year moment of truth.
CBS News
18-04-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts will stop covering popular drugs for weight loss. Here's why.
They have skyrocketed in price and popularity and now they are being blamed for crippling budgets in the public and private sector. As one of the fastest growing classes of medications, GLP-1 weight-loss drugs were originally brought on the market to treat diabetes. But their secondary use as a way for users to suppress diets and slim down sent sales through the roof. On Thursday, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts announced that starting January 1, 2026, standard coverage plans will not cover GLP-1s for weight loss. The company will continue to cover patients who are using the drugs for diabetes treatment. Studies suggest 1 in 8 people have used GLP-1s as the drugs are becoming more and more common and that has given drug companies the reason to increase prices. Blue Cross Blue Shield said in 2024, five GLP-1 drug companies accounted for 20% of their total pharmacy spend which topped $300 million last year. That's double the year prior. In a statement the company's CFO Ruby Kam said, "Costs for medical care and medications for our members have escalated rapidly and spending is now growing at the fastest rate in more than a decade. The surge in spending is putting a heavy and unsustainable burden on our employer customers and members who are struggling to keep up with rising costs." The Retailers Association of Massachusetts is made up of 4,000 members. Most of them are small businesses who said they had faced double digit premium increases year to year. Jon Hurst is the organizations president. "Right now, if you have a mandated coverage on insurance at very high reimbursement rates and high usage, it's going straight to the bottom line," said Hurst. "These pharma companies have to decide which is more important to them, very high premiums or very high costs. Reimbursements for these drugs or high volume. They can't have both." On the same day the BCBS news broke the state's Group Insurance Commission met on Beacon Hill to go over a budget shortfall. The GIC has 460,000 members and provides insurance to state employees and their families. In their monthly meeting, Executive Director Matthew Veno laid out the challenges GLP-1 drugs were putting on their budget. "The GIC has been averaging a fairly significant monthly deficit of about $20 million throughout the year," Veno said. He went on to explain how that deficit was being fueled by rising provider prices and increased demand. The GIC has formally asked the legislature for an additional $240 million to cover the costs. Governor Maura Healey included that request in the supplemental budget she submitted earlier this month.
