Tackling Poverty & Rising Health Costs

Datablast, December 17, 2015

Working Together in DC?

Who would have thought it possible? Well, it’s not Congress, but Brookings and AEI joined forces to produce a report on reducing poverty and increasing opportunity, entitled Opportunity, Responsibility, and Security. With a focus on family, education, and work, the report offers 12 recommendations to change the United States’ socioeconomic landscape. Most impressive, though, is the attitude the experts took:

“The only way forward, we believe, is to work together. No side has a monopoly on the truth, but each side can block legislative action. We therefore created a working group of top experts on poverty, evenly balanced between progressives and conservatives (and including a few centrists).”

Rising Health Costs in Massachusetts

Over the last thirty years, few social and political issues have been fought over more than healthcare. Massachusetts was among the first states to act on principles of universal healthcare, and an oft-cited example of a state that effectively combined values with policy. A new report, however, indicates that some work is yet to be done:

“Rising health care costs have outpaced the incomes of Massachusetts families over the past decade… jumping 55 percent from 2005 to 2014, compared to 23 percent for income, according to the report from the Health Policy Commission, a state watchdog agency that monitors health spending. Health insurance costs averaged $19,300 per family last year, consuming about one-fifth of the average family income of $88,000”