I received this troubling report about the health insurance market from a small business owner: I thought to share one data point on the cost of healthcare in Massachusetts. We just got our renewal for our Blue Cross Blue Shield policy. The premium increase was about 35%. The insurance broker tells us that the cost …
Author Archives: Will Brownsberger
Comments on the Gas Leaks Legislation
This week, the Senate passed legislation to address leaking natural gas pipelines. I was pleased to support this legislation. Jeanne Mooney has posted the official senate press release on this site, but I wanted to offer some additional explanation and comments. Leaking natural gas is a real problem: It is costly. It sometimes endangers the …
Nurses and Needles
The costs of college and graduate education have soared out of control. I’m a strong advocate for giving people less expensive ways to learn what they need to know in order to work. Overly broad professional licensure requirements can contribute to unnecessarily high education costs and generally to higher costs for consumers. We only let …
Gun Buyback
For information about the new gun buyback program in Belmont, please click here. If you have details on buyback programs in other communities, please feel free to add them as comments to this topic.
The Charter School Cap
The controversy about the cap on charter schools is heating up again. An email that is representative of those I have been receiving appears further below. I’m waiting to see what comes out of the Education Committee — the devil is in the details — but here are a few thoughts about where I am …
Unemployment Insurance Rates for Construction Firms
One of the more complex issues currently before us is the rate structure for unemployment insurance. One of the major features of the Senate’s recently passed bill was a shift in rates that would charge more to companies who routinely layoff workers on a seasonal basis. This is only fair to other businesses — it’s …
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