Massachusetts Governor Comes Out Against Contentious Ballot Initiative Limiting Number Of Patients Assigned To Nurses
Reports estimate that the ballot measure would cost the state's health system more than $900 million a year, and that if it becomes law hospitals would need to hire as many as 3,100 additional full-time nurses to comply with the new mandate. Meanwhile, a poll finds that support for the measure is waning. Midterm election news comes out of Michigan, Minnesota and Maine, as well.
Boston Globe:
Charlie Baker Will Vote ‘No’ On Nurse-Staffing Question 1
Governor Charlie Baker said Wednesday he will vote against a ballot question that would limit the number of patients assigned to hospital nurses at one time. He cited an independent state watchdog agency’s report that determined the measure could cost the Massachusetts health care system more than $900 million a year if voters pass it in November. (Miller, 10/10)
Boston Globe:
Poll Suggests Slim Majority Opposes Ballot Question To Regulate Nurses’ Caseloads
A new poll suggests that support for a ballot question to regulate nurse staffing is waning, with a majority of voters surveyed last week saying they plan to vote against the measure on Election Day. Fifty-one percent of likely voters said they opposed the ballot question, while 43 percent supported it, according to the new UMass Lowell/Boston Globe poll. (Dayal McCluskey, 10/10)
The New York Times:
Michigan Governor’s Race Tests Flint’s Jaded Residents
The first car arrived around 3:30 a.m., more than six hours before the weekly “help center” opened at a local church. David Brooks, a 72-year-old retired General Motors laborer, was in the second car in the queue, and passed the time by sleeping in the back seat of his refurbished 1997 Chevy Santa Fe, as has become his Thursday routine since 2014 — the last time his Flint community trusted its water. (Herndon, 10/11)
The Star Tribune:
Health Care Becomes Flashpoint In Minnesota Governor's Race
Health care has emerged as the most contentious issue in the Minnesota's governor's race, as both candidates grapple with the bedeviling details of a system that is worrying to patients and phenomenally expensive to taxpayers. Republican nominee Jeff Johnson and U.S. Rep. Tim Walz both say that all Minnesotans — even those with pre-existing conditions — should have access to affordable health care. (Coolican and Howatt, 10/10)
Kaiser Health News:
Will Maine Voters Decide To Make Aging In Place Affordable?
As Election Day draws near, a ballot initiative in Maine to provide universal home care is shining a spotlight on the inadequacies of the nation’s long-term care system. The essential problem: Although most older adults want to live at home when their health starts to decline or they become frail, programs that help them do so are narrow in scope, fragmented and poorly funded. (Graham, 10/11)
