Massachusetts Politics

Medicaid Shortchanged on Epi-Pen Rebates. Attorney General Maura Healey announced on Oct. 3 that Mylan, the pharmaceutical company, will pay $20.3 million to the Massachusetts Medicaid program (MassHealth) to resolve allegations that it knowingly underpaid rebates owed to the program for EpiPens dispensed to program members/recipients.   The payment is part of a “global settlement” with all of the 49 other states, the federal government, and the District of Columbia.   “Mylan knowingly misrepresented this drug to MassHealth in order to underpay on rebates and make a profit at the expense of our state,” said Healey.   “This settlement brings critical funds back to our MassHealth program.   Companies that receive payments from taxpayer-funded programs must be held accountable when they abuse this system.” Massport Overcharged for Supplies.   Interline Brands, a New Jersey company, will pay a settlement of nearly $2 million to resolve allegations it overcharged th...

On January 26, less than a week after President Trump had been inaugurated, his administration canceled key portions of a federal outreach campaign informing the public of the open enrollment for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) then under way.   The Trump administration stifled the outreach even though it would have ended anyway on January 31, the date the open enrollment was scheduled to close. On January 31, two U.S. Senators, Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts and Patty Murray, D-Washington, called upon the Inspector general of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), an independent authority, to investigate the impact of stopping Obamacare outreach and give a report to the Senate on what they found.   The study was done; the report was written. This past Wednesday, October 25, Senators Warren and Murray released the IG’s report.   Among other things, it found that: The Trump administration first became aware of the outreach cam...

I always thought that hospitals and universities owned most of the tax-exempt land in the City of Boston.   Boy was I mistaken. The total area of Boston consists of 47.84 square miles.   Of that total, 49 percent, or 23.44 square miles is tax-exempt.   And of those 23.44 tax-exempt square miles, only 4.98 square miles are owned by institutions devoted to medicine and health care, higher education, cultural pursuits and worship (churches, synagogues, mosques), etc.   The rest is mainly owned by the government. I got this information from the latest (10-3-17) “Bureau Update” from the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, an independent organization that’s been keeping tabs on Boston’s finances since 1932.   Thank you, BMRB. Here are some other things I gleaned: The state government owns 48.5% of all the tax-exempt land in the city. The city and federal governments own, respectively, 28.6%  and 1.6% of all the tax-exempt land. The total assessed value of al...

Seth Moulton has the right idea about those weak and perfunctory and unproductive moments of silence at the Capitol after mass shootings like the one Sunday night in Las Vegas. “As after #Orlando, I will NOT be joining my colleagues in a moment of silence on the House Floor that just becomes an excuse for inaction.   Now is not the moment for silence; it’s a time for action.” Moulton tweeted earlier today. The action he referred to is voting on new gun control measures.   I like what Moulton’s doing but have to say good luck with that voting thing. After more than 20 first graders were mowed down by a deranged young loner in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, in 2012, many thought it would be the atrocity of atrocities that finally spurred Congress to ban the sale of assault weapons.   Of course, we all underestimated the ability of the Republicans running D.C. to take massacres in stride. Moulton, an Iraq War hero who represents the Sixth Massachusetts District...