In the News

With an aging workforce and a low unemployment rate, Massachusetts faces a tight labor market, creating a dynamic that could limit the state’s future economic growth. That was one of the main messages economists delivered to lawmakers on Wednesday, at an annual Ways and Means Committee hearing that launches the state budget-writing process. Economists who testified projected a slower revenue growth rate than in the past two years, offering estimates that ranged from 0.8 percent to 3.5 percent.

Revenue Commissioner Christopher Harding characterized the Massachusetts unemployment rate as “impressively low,” forecasting a rate of 2.8 percent this fiscal year, and said that job growth may come at a slower pace than it has in the past.

“This could drive up wages, this could do all kinds of things that have a direct impact on business here in the commonwealth, because there’s a limited talent pool in order to achieve the growth these businesses want to achieve,” Harding said, after Sen. Cindy Friedman asked if there was any cause for concern with such a low unemployment rate.

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The conference committee reconciling the different House and Senate bills related to children’s health and wellness filed its report with the House clerk after wrapping up a press conference called to announce a deal agreed to by five of the panel’s six members. The sixth member, Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, ultimately signed on as well before the bill (H 4210) was filed.

“In no way, shape or form do we believe that this is the end of the work that we need to do,” Friedman said, adding that some Senate approved measures relating to DCF were omitted from the final bill “in deference to” the House’s ongoing effort to pull together legislation addressing the department.

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BOSTON — The Massachusetts Senate on Thursday unanimously agreed to impose new oversight on the pharmaceutical industry and cap consumer costs for insulin.

The 40-0 vote drew praise from the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, which said the bill “contains necessary provisions for making the costs of prescription drugs more transparent, regulating pharmacy benefit managers and requiring that pharmacists help consumers find the lowest prices possible for prescription drugs.”

Sen. Cindy Friedman, an Arlington Democrat who co-chairs the Health Care Financing Committee, said in a statement that the bill “will bring us one step closer toward addressing rising costs within our healthcare system that continually impact patients’ ability to access the care they need.”

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In the next few weeks the Legislature has a chance to make all of us who live in communities served by natural gas feel more reassured about the safety of the pipes that run under our streets and into our homes and provide us with heat, hot water and energy for cooking.

As the National Transportation Safety Board made clear in its findings on the explosions that tore through the Merrimack Valley a year ago, safety comes from adequate oversight of our natural gas system, and the use of skilled, experienced workers on that system.

While the state has taken some steps in the wake of the tragedy to tighten up oversight of the natural gas infrastructure, more is needed. That’s why, with the co-sponsorship of Sen. Cindy Friedman and the support of the 1,600 gas workers in the New England Gas Workers Alliance, we are seeking passage of an omnibus bill taking even more steps for a safe gas system.

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“With lawmakers working to find not only creative but effective ways to combat the opioid crisis that still has a vice grip on not only Massachusetts but the nation, state Sen. Cindy Friedman, D-Arlington, is making progress towards possibly bringing the first safe-injection site program in the country to Massachusetts.

Friedman, who is the state senator for Billerica, recently sat down to speak about proposed program, to shed light on what could become a first for opioid treatment in the United States.

First, Friedman said if passed a program like this would not be foisted on a city or town. A community would have to express interest in the program coming to them. She said while she hasn’t directly worked with anyone in Billerica on this, larger municipalities such as Cambridge and Somerville have expressed interest.”

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The Massachusetts Health Policy Commission has long operated in the background of the state’s health care economy, conducting routine check-ups of the costs of care, and monitoring the vital signs of the region’s largest players. But recent policy proposals from both Gov. Charlie Baker and state Senate would give the watchdog agency power to try and influence the cost of prescription drugs, by questioning drug manufacturers and publicly shaming and coercing them into lowering the price of the most expensive products.

“What we will be looking at is what that cost is, and whether that cost is in line with a proposed value,” said State Sen. Cindy Friedman, who co-chairs the Committee on Health Care Financing and helped craft the Senate’s health care proposal unveiled last week. “If the Health Policy Commission finds cost is not in line with proposed value, then the HPC would engage in a process with a manufacturer to reduce that cost.”

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Massachusetts Senate leaders on Thursday will propose new legislation they say targets the high cost of prescription drugs, giving state officials the power to study and propose what they consider fair values for expensive medicines.

The bill — the Senate’s first major foray into a broader debate on Beacon Hill over health care — also would cap out-of-pocket costs for insulin, the lifesaving drug used by many patients with diabetes. Patients who now may be paying thousands of dollars annually for insulin would pay no more than $25 per month for the drug under the Senate plan, said Senator Cindy F. Friedman, cochairwoman of the Legislature’s Committee on Health Care Financing

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BOSTON — With the high cost of prescription drugs frequently flagged as an untenable driver of health care spending and an impediment to quality care, Senate leaders have come up with an ambitious plan they believe will help drive down the cost of expensive and unfairly priced drugs.

Sen. Cindy Friedman, an Arlington Democrat and the co-chair of the Committee on Health Care Financing, plans to unveil the bill at a press conference at the State House on Thursday, and leaders plan to call for a vote on the bill by the full Senate next week, ahead of a planned multi-week recess beginning on Nov. 20.

“We are very, very, very concerned about the cost of medications to consumers,”  Friedman said in an interview. “We appreciate that this is a complicated and complex industry, that it is expensive, that there are absolutely real costs. What we’re asking is let’s get some transparency around those costs so we know how we can fix the problem for the consumers.”

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A Senate plan would set up a system to empower a state watchdog agency to review and develop acceptable prices for well-known and expensive medications, and work with drug manufacturers to lower those costs for consumers. Sen. Cindy Friedman, an Arlington Democrat and the co-chair of the Committee on Health Care Financing, plans to unveil the bill at a press conference at the State House.

“We are very, very, very concerned about the cost of medications to consumers,” Friedman said in an interview. “We appreciate that this is a complicated and complex industry, that it is expensive, that there are absolutely real costs. What we’re asking is let’s get some transparency around those costs so we know how we can fix the problem for the consumers.” Friedman said drug makers should not fear the Senate bill unless they are attempting to make excessive profits off their drugs on the backs of patients. “I believe that this is not going to do anything to harm pharmaceutical manufacturers or the pharmaceutical industry,” Friedman said.

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Senator Cindy Friedman (D-Arlington), Representative Sean Garballey (D-Arlington), and Representative Dave Rogers (D-Cambridge) recently applauded the announcement that the Town of Arlington has been awarded $38,500 from the Sustainable Materials Recovery Program (SMRP) grant, which will help maximize recycling, composting and waste reduction programs in the town.

“I am thrilled that our community has been awarded this grant to help enhance our recycling, composting and waste reduction programs,” said Senator Friedman. “Arlington will have the opportunity to continue the pressing work of protecting our community through sustainable programming.”

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