Massachusetts Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll said the state is doing its best to mitigate the harms caused by the Trump administration’s "draconian" cuts to health care.
Last year, the Republican-led U.S. Congress passed about a trillion dollars in cuts to Medicaid, health care subsidies, and public health, as well as imposing work requirements for Medicaid recipients.
Speaking at a summit on health equity at UMass Boston, Driscoll called those changes not only cruel and mean-spirited, "but it's also dumb," she said, "because if you want to lower costs for everyone, you've got to get people care, particularly the most vulnerable folks."
Driscoll said Massachusetts leaders are trying to lower health care costs — for instance, by reducing insurance red tape when you have a chronic disease, or stopping medical debt from staying on your credit report — in part to help patients most harmed by federal cuts.
"We can't replace every dollar. Like not even close. You all know that," she said. "But I think we can commit and really be true to our beliefs. We stand for health equity."
In contrast to the federal government, Driscoll said, Massachusetts is also using technology and data to narrow health disparities.
The summit was sponsored by the Health Equity Compact, which is made up of about 100 health executives and experts - mostly of color.
Rahsaan Hall of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts told the group that, while diversity and equity has been weaponized by the Trump administration to cut billions of dollars in benefits, the state must be bold enough to create resilient systems. He compared the effort to Massachusetts' pioneering of universal health coverage 20 years ago.
"We must continue pushing forward because coverage alone does not guarantee health equity," Hall said. "Too many Massachusetts residents still face barriers to care and worse health outcomes based on race or income or zip code or disability, and many other factors."
And that, he said, not only raises costs for everyone but threatens the stability of the entire health care system.
Hall is pushing for a state bill, called An Act to Advance Health Equity, that would invest more in the health workforce and hold state leaders accountable for outcomes.