Boston Mass Health Insurance

Mass. research funding at risk

Massachusetts stands to lose more than $680 million in federal research funding if the supercommittee does not agree on a deficit-reduction package this month and automatic cuts to defense and domestic spending are triggered. The cuts would jeopardize the state’s $7 billion-a-year research enterprise, a key economic driver that supports tens of thousands of jobs and anchors the life sciences industry in Massachusetts

The cuts, the latest in a series, could imperil parts of the state’s medical and scientific sectors, which have become a critical economic driver. The sectors have sustained the Bay State through the recession, supported tens of thousands of jobs, trained young scientists with hopes of discovering cures, and anchored the life sciences industry in Massachusetts, the officials contend.

Boston and Cambridge, with one of the densest concentrations of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies in the country, is the epicenter for medical research. And Boston is home to the five independent hospitals receiving the most funds from the National Institutes of Health in the nation, said John Erwin, executive director of the Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals. Only California receives more NIH funds overall.

“Reducing funding for research would be an enormous mistake,’’ said Susan Hockfield, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one of about 130 research university presidents who signed a letter to supercommittee members urging them to make bold reforms to entitlement programs and the tax code rather than nibble around the edges of the debt problem with further cuts to scientific research. “This is the kind of investment you have to make in good times and in bad.’’

“Government does have a role to play in helping with basic research because it’s not always commercially feasible,’’ said Robert Bixby, executive director of The Concord Coalition, an Arlington, Va.-based group advocating responsible fiscal policy. “We need to be careful not to cut things that are intended to help the economy grow in the future.

Massachusetts Health Stats: The Boston Herald "Medicare Victim ...

We'll probably never know the whole story about the Herald's "Medicare victim" unless he wants to go public. But the Herald did a disservice to seniors by publishing a story that made no sense to anyone that studies Medicare drug coverage. And unneccesarily scared the shit out of hundreds or more seniors who use it. "... he is far from alone. At a recent (Massachusetts) State House hearing, doctors, patients advocates and patients themselves told lawmakers that not only is Medicare changing prescription drug rules, private insurers also have demanded high patient payment for some of the more expensive drugs treating cancer, heart disease, HIV/AIDS, hemophilia and multiple sclerosis."  We'll probably never know the whole story about the Herald's "Medicare victim" unless he wants to go public. But the Herald did a disservice to seniors by publishing a story that made no sense to anyone that studies Medicare drug coverage. And unneccesarily scared the shit out of hundreds or more seniors who use it. "... he is far from alone. At a recent (Massachusetts) State House hearing, doctors, patients advocates and patients themselves told lawmakers that not only is Medicare changing prescription drug rules, private insurers also have demanded high patient payment for some of the more expensive drugs treating cancer, heart disease, HIV/AIDS, hemophilia and multiple sclerosis.