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Advocates Push For Rx-Drug Purchasing Pool
MASSPIRG joined Sen. Mark Montigny (New Bedford), Rep. Bill Straus (Mattapoisett), and a coalition of consumer and health care groups to call on the governor to implement an existing set of laws that would cut the price the state pays for all its prescription drug purchases.
The bulk purchasing statutes signed into law in 1999 and 2001 require the Department of Public Health to create a pool for purchasing prescription drugs in bulk and also mandates that all drugs purchased in connection with state-administered health care plans be purchased through this pool. By purchasing in bulk, the state can reduce their drug costs and allow consumers the benefit of lower negotiated cost drugs. More. |
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MASSPIRG Is Part Of Auto Insurance Task Force
MASSPIRG Legislative Director Deirdre Cummings was appointed to the Automobile Insurance Task Force, which was convened by Gov. Patrick in January. Chaired by Dan Crane, the Director of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, the seven member task force was directed by the governor to identify opportunities within our existing auto insurance system to increase competition and reduce costs while maintaining equity and fairness.
The group released their findings in March and recommended that the state and insurers should prioritize lowering our highest-in-the-nation accident rate, which would bring rates down significantly, preserve consumer protections, delay implementation of the “Assigned Risk Plan” adopted at the end of the Romney administration, and allow for speedier approval of enhanced insurance products, among other recommendations. More.
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Students Release Report On High Cost Of Textbooks
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CALLING FOR AFFORDABLE TEXTBOOKS—MASS Student PIRG Program Director Saffron Zomer (at podium) with Professor Joe LeBlanc (Northern Essex Community College: center) and Rep. Kevin J. Murphy (Lowell: right). |
MASSPIRG students put textbook affordability in the news and the minds of state legislators with a February press conference. MASSPIRG student chapter leaders released the report, “Exposing the Textbook Industry: How Publishers’ Pricing Tactics Drive Up The Cost of College Textbooks,” revealing the cause of a huge hardship for consumers: skyrocketing textbook prices.
Among the report’s findings: publishers aren’t giving professors adequate price information about textbooks, and they continue to “bundle” textbooks unnecessarily, driving up the price with extra materials like CD Roms.
To help make college more affordable for students, the MASSPIRG supported Affordable Textbooks Bill was filed by Rep. Steven Walsh of Lynn, and endorsed by the Chair of the Joint Committee on Higher Education, Rep. Kevin Murphy, who was a speaker at the press conference. The bill would require publishers to provide faculty with clear price information, and make “bundling” of textbooks optional.More.
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Research Highlights MBTA Financial Crisis
On March 8, 2007 the Transportation Finance Commission, created by Gov. Romney and the Legislature in 2004 to study the state’s transportation infrastructure, announced that the MBTA will be $6 billion to $8 billion short of funding basic operations over the next 20 years.
The commission cites that “the MBTA finds itself in a downward spiral in which it cannot generate the revenue necessary to achieve a state of good repair, meaning that the MBTA cannot improve service quality, retain and attract riders, and increase revenue over time.”
This legislative session, state Sen. Jarrett Barrios and Reps. Alice Wolf and Carl Sciortino filed MASSPIRG-backed legislation calling on the state to assume $2.9 billion of the MBTA’s $5.2 billion debt. Relieving this debt will allow the MBTA to focus on improving service (see article).
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Consumer Federation Of America Conference
In February, MASSPIRG Executive Director Janet Domenitz and Consumer Advocate Eric Bourassa participated in the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) conference in Washington, D.C. CFA is a non-profit advocacy organization —one of the leading voices for consumers in Congress.
Domenitz is on the executive committee of the CFA board; she, along with other state PIRG members, played a key role in the conference.
Bourassa presented on MASSPIRG’s success holding the tobacco industry accountable for fires caused by cigarettes, through the passage of the Fire Safe Cigarettes bill in July, which will reduce hundreds of home fires annually. More.
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