Patrick Gilligan has a lifetime of experience in health care. One year ago, he accepted the role of CEO of Point32Health, a regional nonprofit health insurance provider. On this month's edition of Health or Consequences, hosts John McDonough and Paul Hattis ask Gilligan to take a deep dive into the current state of health insurance. Are patients getting what they're paying for? How are health insurers cutting costs while remaining competitive? How is market consolidation contributing to rising healthcare costs? And what policies might help stem the tide?

Guest:

Patrick Gilligan, CEO of Point32Health

Hosts:

John McDonough of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Paul Hattis of the Lowne Institute

Have a question or comment for Health or Consequences? Reach out to [email protected]

Gov. Maura Healey’s administration estimates that the state will need 222,000 by 2035 to deal with existing needs and population growth. Her new housing secretary, Juana Matias, says we can meet that goal, and joins CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith to talk about chipping away at decades of sluggish housing production. Matias, who was a state representative and regional administration at HUD, discusses what she’d like to see come from the end-of-session rush and how the state can weather federal pullbacks on fair housing an public housing.

For generations, it was virtually guaranteed that American children would out-earn their parents. But as Raj Chetty explains in this special live episode of The Codcast, recorded at the recent WBUR Festival, that dream is fading. What factors are contributing to economic stagnation? How can we increase upward mobility? How do these trends vary across neighborhoods, race, gender, and immigration status?

Watch on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/iT7qj0kakg8

Host:

Michael Jonas, executive editor of CommonWealth Beacon

Guest:

Raj Chetty, Professor of economics at Harvard University and the director of Opportunity Insights

Matches in the world’s biggest sports spectacle will kick off this week across North America. With Boston as one of the host cities — seven matches will be played at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, which will be renamed Boston Stadium for the World Cup tournament — Massachusetts will be in the spotlight as it hosts thousands of international fans and will need to safely move people between the city and a stadium some 22 miles away by rail. Are we ready? And is hosting these sorts of mega-events even worth it? This week on The Codcast, Chris Dempsey, the former co-chair of No Boston Olympics joins CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jordan Wolman to discuss whether this time is any different from more than a decade ago when Dempsey successfully fought against Boston’s bid to play home base for the 2024 Olympics. 

Guest:

Chris Dempsey, partner at Speck Dempsey and former co-chair of No Boston Olympics

Host:

Jordan Wolman, reporter for CommonWealth Beacon

Further Reading:

https://commonwealthbeacon.org/government/healey-backs-later-last-call-for-once-in-a-generation-summer/

https://commonwealthbeacon.org/economy/the-inside-story-of-no-boston-olympics/

Massachusetts has been busing students between neighborhoods and school districts for 60 years, but segregation within the school system persists – and in some places it’s actually gotten worse over recent decades. This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith talks with Dan O’Brien, professor of public policy and urban affairs and director of the Boston Area Research Initiative at Northeastern University, about a new lawsuit brought against the state. Students and civil rights organizations want the state to step in to address segregation across school districts, and Boston’s long and fraught history of attempted desegregation may offer some lessons.

Guest

Dan O'Brien, professor of public policy and urban affairs and director of the Boston Area Research Initiative at Northeastern University

Host:

Jennifer Smith, senior reporter at CommonWealth Beacon

Further Reading

https://commonwealthbeacon.org/opinion/the-answer-to-the-school-desegregation-lawsuit-revive-urban-communities/

On this month’s edition of Health or Consequences, hosts John McDonough and Paul Hattis are joined by Victoria Pulos, a health law attorney at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, to discuss the fallout of OB3, or the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” for Massachusetts residents. Who is likely to lose coverage? How has the state responded to federal cuts? And if Democrats win the midterms, can any of these actions be reversed?

Hosts:

• John McDonough of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
• Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute

Guest:

• Victoria Pulos, senior health law attorney at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI)

Dave Denison was the first editor of CommonWealth Magazine and oversaw the publication of its first issue 30 years ago, in the spring of 1996. Mirroring similar publications in other states, CommonWealth’s mission was to dive deep into how policy actually impacts people, no easy task in a state where politicians held their cards close. Today, Laura Colarusso, editor of CommonWealth Beacon, helms the publication with a similar goal. Although much has changed about the country, the state, and the organization since the 1990s, Denison and Colarusso discuss the enduring mission of creating a more transparent political system for the common good.

Host:

Laura Colarusso, editor of CommonWealth Beacon

Guest:

Dave Denison, writer at large for The Baffler

Defining the middle class is harder than it might seem – it might mean owning a home, having steady work, keeping a pot of savings, or the kids and white picket fence vision of the “American Dream.” Historian Andrew Seal, whose research and writings focus on how the middle class thinks of itself, joins CommonWealth Beacon senior reporter Jennifer Smith on The Codcast to interpret recent Bay State polling and dive into how a middle-class identity intersects with race, media portrayals, and American individualism.

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Host:

• Jennifer Smith, senior reporter for CommonWealth Beacon

Guests:

• Andrew Seal, senior lecturer at the University of New Hampshire 

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https://commonwealthbeacon.org/middle-class/in-mass-the-middle-class-is-holding-on-but-financial-anxiety-continues-to-climb/

https://commonwealthbeacon.org/middle-class/for-mass-residents-housing-is-where-affordability-hits-hardest/

https://paulcollege.unh.edu/person/andrew-seal

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Join us on May 14th for our 30th anniversary celebration:

www.commonwealthbeacon.org/30th

Massachusetts’s extreme housing crunch is no secret, but who is actually in charge of fixing it? This week on The Codcast, state Sen. Julian Cyr and Local Journalism Project executive director Janet Lesniak join CommonWealth beacon reporter Jennifer Smith to talk about the role of employee housing on the Cape and Islands – how sustainable is it to expect small businesses to become landlords for their workers, what happens when there’s nowhere for workers to live, and what should the state be doing to help seasonal communities help themselves with new housing tools?

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Guests

• Janet Lesniak, Local Journalism Project executive director
• State Sen. Julian Cyr

Host

• Jennifer Smith, senior reporter for CommonWealth Beacon

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commonwealthbeacon.org/30th

What does the latest executive order aimed at changing how people cast their votes mean for Massachusetts? Two lawsuits are currently working their way through District Court in the state challenging a directive from President Trump that the US Postal Service only deliver mail ballots to voters on a federal citizenship list. Celia Canavan, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, and Davin Rosborough of the ACLU Voting Rights Project join to discuss their suit.

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Host:

• Jennifer Smith, senior reporter for CommonWealth Beacon

Guests:

• Celia Canavan, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts 
• Davin Rosborough, ACLU Voting Rights Project

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Join us May 11

www.commonwealthbeacon.org/30th