Issue Position: Health Care

Issue Position

Maura believes that every resident of our state deserves affordable, high quality health care. This includes ensuring parity for mental health services. Mental health services must be just as available as services for physical injuries and sickness.

Recent hospital closures and potential mergers all raise serious concerns about the health care access disparities of low-income and rural communities. This is a civil rights issue and Maura will fight to ensure that every community in Massachusetts has quality health care nearby.

The Attorney General's Office has oversight over health care companies, insurance providers and hospitals and also has oversight over proposed health care mergers and other proposed changes to Massachusetts' important health care market. It is critical that we protect patients' ability to access quality, affordable care while taking steps to drive down costs.

As Chief of the Public Protection & Advocacy Bureau, and Chief of the Business & Labor Bureau, Maura oversaw five divisions that directly work on health care issues: The Health Care Division, the Antitrust Division, the Not-for-Profit/Charities Division, the Fair Labor Division and the Medicaid Fraud Division.

As Chief of the Public Protection & Advocacy Bureau, Maura supervised and approved investigations and enforcement actions against pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies for unfair or deceptive practices, and oversaw the preparation of reports on health care cost trends to provide transparency and information to policy makers. She will continue to make access to high quality, affordable health care a top priority for the Attorney General's Office.

Source