Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue has unveiled a healthcare plan for Massachusetts centered on a « patients first » approach, promising to lower costs, expand access, and reduce the regulatory burden on doctors and nurses. The former longtime chief executive of the medical device company Abiomed described the proposal as an innovation-driven alternative to government mandates.
« The most important thing that can help health care is to have a patients first mindset, » Minogue said. He said that when he ran Abiomed, everyone in the company rallied around that culture, and every decision was tested against whether it improved patient outcomes, helped physicians and nurses, or saved money for the system.
Minogue said that while Massachusetts is home to some of the best hospitals in the world, it also has some of the highest healthcare costs in the country. He pointed to a sharp divide in access and quality between the Boston area and the rest of the state, citing the closure of Norwood Hospital as a warning sign. A patient with a cardiac event in Norwood, he said, could face a drive of more than 55 minutes to reach Boston for treatment. « We have areas now in communities that might have a 50-plus minute drive to get to the nearest area, » he said.
The candidate is calling for a hub-and-spoke model of healthcare delivery that would extend access to high-risk procedures, including maternity, cardiac, and stroke care, beyond Boston. He argued that current regulations strangle the rest of the commonwealth and effectively mandate that procedures be done in Boston, the highest-cost environment. Expanding outpatient clinics and surgery centers, he said, would cut overhead and give patients a simpler alternative to driving into the city. He noted that Massachusetts has relatively few such facilities despite its leading hospitals.
Minogue also stressed the financial burden on employers and families. As CEO, he said, he bought health insurance for employees for 19 years and never saw an annual increase below double digits. His plan would cap catastrophic medical costs, combine coverage with health savings accounts, and allow people to choose the care they want rather than requiring every treatment and procedure to be included in every plan.
The proposal includes new measures to address the state's mental health crisis. Minogue said many counselors operate only on a private-pay basis, leaving patients covered by subsidized government programs with few options and often sending them to emergency rooms. He suggested allowing subsidized government payments so those patients could see the same clinic providers available to private-pay patients. He also drew attention to high suicide rates among correctional facility officers and veterans with PTSD, saying both groups are too often treated in emergency rooms instead of receiving specialized counseling.
Healthcare is a top concern for Massachusetts voters, and Minogue hopes the plan will help him in a difficult race against incumbent Democratic Governor Maura Healey. He said his years at Abiomed and his work with healthcare systems around the world gave him firsthand knowledge of how hard physicians, nurses, and counselors work and how to put patients at the center of every decision.