Healthcare Policy

Race to Fill Nikki Tsongas' Seat in the House of Representatives · Post Healthcare Policy Posting as Stuart

This is a blog to discuss the views of the now 12 contenders to fill Nikki Tsongas’ seat representing the Massachusetts 3rd District. We have already discussed education policy and minimum wage. This week we will be discussing healthcare. As stated previously, any candidate who does not have a website will not be discussed further in this blog, because I simply don’t have time for someone who isn’t serious when there are 11 other serious candidates.

Here is a table showing each candidate’s views on the most broken parts of our healthcare system. Again, I will color-code answers in terms of more liberal being bluer, more moderate being redder, and more confused being grayer. Because I am analyzing the Democratic candidates, I will be putting the more liberal candidates on each issue at the top, and the more conservative candidates at the bottom.

Lori Trahan’s entry in the table is bolded because you should read her views straight from her website. She appears to have a solid understanding of healthcare policy, but the format of this blog is ineffective at covering such detail.

Name	Single Payer	The VA	ObamaCare	Transparency
L’Italien	Yes	Not mentioned	Worked on the Massachusetts one which it was based on.	Health insurers need to provide better information
St. John	Yes, slowly	Improve access and wait times	Not far enough, fix it	Lack causes inflation
Trahan	Not Mentioned	Not mentioned	Strengthen and defend	Improve (very detailed)
Chandler	Yes	Not Mentioned.	Public Option until Single Payer	Supports creation of a universal medical records system
Gifford	Yes, but Massachusetts needs to do it first.	Not mentioned	Helped pass it	Increase Accountability
Malone	Not mentioned	Not mentioned	Protect, fix, and strengthen	Not mentioned
Matias	Yes	Not mentioned	Not mentioned	Not mentioned
Koh	Sure	Fix	Strengthen and add public option	Not mentioned
Littlefield	Yes	Not mentioned	Not mentioned	Not mentioned
Das	Yes	Fold into the new single-payer	Good first step, too expensive for employers	Not Mentioned

Barbara L’Italien has fought hard on this issue in the Massachusetts legislature, earning her the Mass-Care advocacy group endorsement. She believes strongly that people with pre-existing conditions need to be protected, that CHIP needs to be fully funded, and that patients should be allowed to try to treatment which has the highest likelihood of success before needing to try less expensive treatments.

Keith St. John spoke to me after the rally on Monday, and impressed me with his desire to fix the healthcare system. He wants us to move in the direction of single payer, but thinks that we need to do so slowly and carefully. He pointed out that ObamaCare needs to be fixed in order to work as it was intended.

Lori Trahan has the most specific and detailed information on bringing down healthcare costs of any candidate. She talks about specific changes which can be made to laws regarding medical costs, record-keeping, and informed consent.

Alexandra Chandler says that she would vote for the Sanders-Conyers healthcare bill in Congress, with an amendment to make it phase in over time. This bill allows Medicare to cover any resident of the United States, and the bill’s language claims that this can be paid for by current federal healthcare spending. Chandler also says that the bill must be amended to include some protections currently included in Medicaid, but not in Medicare.

I spoke with Rufus Gifford at the rally on Monday, and he pointed out that he had been a part of the team who helped President Obama pass ObamaCare. He has seen how effective single payer is in other countries, including during his time as the US ambassador to Denmark, but he recognizes that it will be hard to get single-payer passed federally before a few states show that it can be done well.

Bopha Malone says that we should "protect, fix, and strengthen" ObamaCare.

Juana Matias supports single-payer healthcare.

Dan Koh believes in the Affordable care act, and wants to strengthen, defend, and expand it. He believes that it should include a public option, where Americans could buy into something like Medicare.

Patrick Littlefield only mentioned making higher ed more affordable on his website.

Abhijit "Beej" Das wants a system similar to what you would find in England, where you get basic health insurance just by being an American, but if you want coverage for more than that, you need to pay for private insurance as well.

Next week, the topic will be Mental Health, including drug policy.

The following candidates do not talk about specific education policies on their websites.
• Jeff Ballinger

Special Mini-Update: Opposing Trump's Agenda

Today, there was a rally in Concord, Ma by a neo-nazi group trying to promote hate speech. Almost every candidate said that they would be there, but only two actually showed up in the pouring rain.

Rufus Gifford

Rufus Gifford was the first candidate to arrive. He was happy to talk to his constituents, and recognized me specifically. He talked about his time spent working with Barack Obama for his entire presidency, and the things he learned from that time.

While he was talking, I turned around to respond to something a park ranger had said about what the counter-protesters needed to do in order to stay safe, and when I turned back he was gone.

Keith St. John

Keith St. John showed up a few minutes after Mr. Gifford left. I noticed him chanting along before I got a chance to talk to him. He invited me to sit down for tea and to talk about the race later, rather than trying to talk about it while we should be drowning out the voices of the neo-nazis on the hill. He pointed out that his website is so sparse because he refuses to ask anyone for money until he has all the signatures he needs, and that means that he doesn't have money to pay a website person yet.

He didn't take a vuvuzela, but he chanted along, and he stayed for over an hour. He was still there when I left, after most of the neo-nazis had abandoned the field.

A message to the other candidates

If you didn't show up, especially if you said you would, then you let us down. You were part of the reason that the neo-nazis outnumbered us for the first half hour. I will remember well the two candidates who DID show up as I continue to write this blog.

Update: Alexandra Chandler reached out to explain that because her wife was busy at 3, she had to back out from attending the rally when the time was changed because she would have had their two children with her. I commend her for not bringing children to a protest rally against a violent neo-nazi group.

Education Policy

This is a blog to discuss the views of the 13 contenders to fill Nikki Tsongas’ seat representing the Massachusetts 3rd District. Last week, we discussed minimum wage, and this week we will be discussing education policy. As stated last week, any candidate who does not have a website will not be discussed further in this blog, because I simply don’t have time for someone who isn’t serious when there are 12 other serious candidates.

Here is a table showing each candidate’s views on the most common liberal ideas for education. Again, I will color-code answers in terms of more liberal being bluer, more moderate being redder, and more confused being grayer. The names are listed in order from most liberal to most conservative, with ties broken by their placement in last week's table.

Name	Universal Pre-K	Charter Schools	Free Higher Ed
Das	Yes	No	Expanded educational grants, improved loan transparency
L’Italien	Yes	No	Free public higher ed, reduce loan interest rates
Chandler	Yes	No	Free Community College, reduced price state colleges
Gifford	Yes	Not mentioned	Reduce costs
Koh	Yes	Not mentioned	Reduce costs
Trahan	Improvements	Not mentioned	Reduce costs of higher ed
Malone	Yes	Not mentioned	Reduce student debt
Littlefield	Not mentioned	Not mentioned	Reduce costs of higher ed
Matias	Not mentioned	Yes	Improve Access

Abhijit "Beej" Das wants to promote skill- and jobs-based learning programs, especially for students who are not going to college. He wants differentiated instruction in the classroom.

Barbara L’Italien talked a lot about education policy when I met her in person. She supports improvements to education for children with learning differences and ELL. Two of her children are teachers. As of this posting, her website does not have an "issues" page in which she discusses her positions on individual issues.

Alexandra Chandler supports teachers, acknowledging that we are the front line of education. She also wants to reduce federal student loan rates below market rates.

Rufus Gifford doesn’t say much on the issue.

Dan Koh wants to focus on STEM.

Lori Trahan does not appear to believe in free college or pre-k, but wants to reduce the costs so that more families can afford them.

Bopha Malone took two paragraphs not to say much on this issue.

Patrick Littlefield only mentioned making higher ed more affordable on his website.

Juana Matias has only one sentence on education policy on her website, but this article claims she supports charter schools.

Next week, the topic will be healthcare.

The following candidates do not talk about specific education policies on their websites.
• Jeff Ballinger
• Keith St. John