(Bumped. Could the Herald be leaning toward Cahill, or The Candidate Whose Name the GOP Dare Not Speak, Mihos. - promoted by Bob Neer)
 Governor Patrick's current winning streak -- an impressive series of policy and political extra-base hits that includes an unexpected vote of confidence from the business group Associated Industries of MA -- continued yesterday and today with two hard-hitting pieces in ... the Herald!? That's right: the Herald yesterday hammered Charlie Baker for watching his salary at Harvard Pilgrim triple (from about $550,000 when he started to $1.7 million when he left), while the insurance premiums it charged skyrocketed. (That's yesterday's front page on the right.) And today it followed up with a piece repeating the basic info about salary and premiums, and including Lt. Gov. Murray's (predictably) outraged reaction.
From yesterday's story:
As Republican Charles Baker seeks to capture the independent vote that bolstered U.S. Sen. Scott Brown's win, a Herald review shows Harvard Pilgrim tripled the former CEO's annual salary as it hit consumers with a 150 percent increase in premiums. Brown rode to victory as an independent voice on health care, a position critics say Baker will have a tough time following with those numbers.... Baker's salary as CEO of Harvard Pilgrim surged from $548,351 in 1999 to a high of $1.7 million in 2008. He earned $1.3 million in seven months in 2009 before he resigned to run for governor last summer, filings with the state Attorney General show.
Over the same period, premiums at Harvard Pilgrim went up by 100 to 200 percent.
When Baker took the reins in 1999, rates on Harvard Pilgrim's most popular plans ranged from about $166 to $187 a month per member. Those rates soared to $425 to $483 a month, as of April, according to filings with the Massachusetts Division of Insurance.
And today, here's the Lt. Gov.:
"If he was serious about helping consumers, helping small businesses have more affordable premiums, he wouldn't be jacking his own pay at a time you're hammering small businesses, cities and towns and families with these double-digit premium increases," Murray said. "(Premium) rates have been a job-killer while they're raising pay. It's outrageous."
Good strategy. The more closely the Patrick/Murray campaign can tie high health insurance premiums to the difficulties small businesses are having, the better. That's particularly the case because Baker seems to profoundly not get it. Here he is in yesterday's Herald, accusing the Gov of changing the subject:
"This probably beats talking about spending and taxes and unemployment if you're him," Baker said.
Ah, but Charlie, this is talking about unemployment. There is actually a connection between skyrocketing health insurance premiums and businesses laying off or not hiring employees. Welcome to the real world.
Win. And thanks, Herald! :-) |
