The Commonwealth of Massachusetts - along with a number of other states (including New Hampshire and Maine) and the federal government - is kicking around a number of ideas concerning payment reform.  The argument goes something like this - since the current health care system, led by the gigantic Medicare program, pays primarily on a fee for service […]

There’s a lot of health care reform talk in DC about having some kind of national health exchange or connector to facilitate the purchase of health insurance.  This exchange - as yet undefined - is presumed to be modeled on the Massachusetts Connector, and will provide individuals - and maybe small businesses(?) - with access to health insurance products […]

One of the more controversial elements of health care reform in Massachusetts is the so-called “merged market.”  In most states, individual health insurance is bought and sold under one set of rules, and small group insurance (for firms with either 1-50 employees or 2-50 employees) is sold under another set of rules.

It used to be that […]