Joshua Archambault, the Pioneer Institute’s senior fellow on health care policy, penned a commentary posted on WGBH’s website in which he argues that Question 1 will adversely affect community hospitals outside of the Boston area.
In his piece – “Question 1: Affluent Voters Will Determine Healthcare for Economically Distressed Communities” – Archambault wrote: “While a large portion of Boston-area voters already receive care at hospitals that can likely afford the nursing ratios or can at least pass on the extra costs to their privately insured patients, the tangible impact will be felt in hospitals around the state that don’t have these luxuries, such as those serving lower-income communities like New Bedford, Lawrence, and Fall River. … “One thing is clear: Each additional dollar allocated to a set ratio is a dollar that is unavailable for charity care, the appropriate provider for a sick patient (that may or may not be a nurse), or to help a small business hire a new employee (because higher health care costs mean higher health insurance premiums). On November 6th, the fate of Question 1 will come down to Boston-area progressive and independent voters thinking long and hard about how their vote will impact hospitals they will never enter, serving populations they care about, but from whom they are far removed in terms of geography, economics and access to care.”
The Pioneer Institute describes itself as “an independent, non-partisan, privately funded research organization” that focuses on “data-driven public policy solutions based on free market principles, individual liberty and responsibility, and the ideal of effective, limited and accountable government.”
Read his entire piece here.