wbjournal.com | November 26, 2018 | Worcester Business Journal 3
Editor, Brad Kane,
bkane@wbjournal.com
News Editor, Grant Welker,
gwelker@wbjournal.com (Real estate,
higher education)
Staff Writers
Zachary Comeau,
zcomeau@wbjournal.com
(Manufacturing)
Emily Micucci,
emicucci@wbjournal.com (Health care)
Contributors
Susan Shalhoub
Livia Gershon
Research Director,
Stephanie Meagher,
smeagher@nebusinessmedia.com
Research Assistant, Heide Martin,
hmartin@nebusinessmedia.com
Production Director, Kira Beaudoin,
kbeaudoin@wbjournal.com
Associate Art Director,
Mitchell Hayes,
mhayes@wbjournal.com
Senior Accounts Manager
Matt Majikas,
mmajikas@wbjournal.com
Senior Accounts Manager
Christine Juetten,
cjuetten@wbjournal.com
Senior Special Accounts Manager
Mary Lynn Bosiak,
mlbosiak@wbjournal.com
Marketing & Events Manager
Kris Prosser, kprosser@wbjournal.com
Events & Marketing Intern
Megan Irish, events@wbjournal.com
Distribution and Database Coordinator
A Guide to STUFF, a publication
of New England Business Media
Patty Harris,
pharris@nebusinessmedia.com
COO, Mary Rogers,
mrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Manager, Valerie Clark,
vclark@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Assistant, Rae Rogers,
rrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Collections Manager, Raki Zwiebel,
rzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com
Human Resources, Jill Coran,
jcoran@nebusinessmedia.com
Publisher, CEO, Peter Stanton
pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com
Associate Publisher, Mark Murray
mmurray@wbjournal.com
President, Joseph Zwiebel
jzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com
Worcester Business Journal (ISSN#1063-6595) is
published bi-weekly, 24x per year, including 4 special
issues in May, September, October, and December by New
England Business Media. 172 Shrewsbury St., Worcester,
MA 01604. Periodicals postage paid at Worcester, MA.
Copyright 2018. All rights reserved. Postmaster: Please
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PO Box 330, Congers, NY 10920-9894.
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A division of:
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WBJ
T
he UMass Memorial doctor
said many, many things during
my then 2-year-old daughter's
appointment in 2010 when
we were trying to determine
why she still wasn't talking. But the only
word I remember was "autism." It was like
a bomb had been dropped in my family's
lives. When we got similar diagnoses again
in 2010, 2012 and 2013 for our three other
children, I was able to absorb the blow
more easily, but the devastation remained.
While the diagnosis had far-reaching
implications affecting the rest of our lives,
all the doctors were quick to point out it
is a tool to help the kids get the care they
needed. Because of the diagnosis, the U.S.
Social Security Administration considers
them to be disabled. So, on top of the
insurance I receive through WBJ's parent
company – New England Business Media –
my two sons and two daughters have Mass-
Health as a secondary insurance. When-
ever they need health care, my employer
insurance will pick up the bulk of the tab
while MassHealth covers all deductibles,
co-pays and premiums. Essentially, my
four children have therapies, doctor's visits,
surgeries and medications at no out-of-
pocket cost to me.
Words cannot express what a relief it is
to not have to perform any instantaneous
cost analysis of whether any injury is severe
enough for an emergency room co-pay,
or if we can afford a new drug regimen,
or if we should schedule an extra therapy
session during a half-day of school. By re-
moving money from the equation, my kids
get better health care. Of course, my family
does pay for health care, but it is collective-
ly with the rest of the state through our tax-
es, and not directly to healthcare providers
and insurers.
Imagine if it worked this way for your
business. Healthcare costs remain a rela-
tively small expense for most businesses,
in the 5 or 10 percent range. But, that cost
rises every year, eating into your profit
margin or forcing you to generate more
revenues just to break even. Yet, in other
parts of the world – Western Europe and
Canada, most notably – healthcare costs
are baked into a businesses' tax payments
and not a direct budget line item. ose
systems aren't perfect either, but they large-
ly remove the direct burden of paying for
I N T H I S I S S U E
health care from businesses and consum-
ers. is removes the cost analysis from any
individual health decision, leading to better
care. No wonder – according to the World
Health Organization – countries like Cana-
da, England, France and Switzerland all have
longer life expectancies than the U.S.
- Brad Kane, editor
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NEWS & ANALYSIS
DEPARTMENTS
4 Central Mass. In Brief
5 Flash Poll
12 Focus on Health Care
17 The List: Addiction treatment centers
20 Know How
21 Movers & Shakers
21 Photo Finish
23 Opinion
24 Shop Talk: Kathleen Gagne,
Mechanics Hall
4 Mass. recreational pot industry
rolls out in Leicester
Cultivate is one of two retail dispensaries to
open in Massachusetts, the only ones east
of the Mississippi River.
8 The move to Medway
Spencer Technologies is investing $12
million to consolidate its U.S. operations.
Wouldn't it be great to not pay for health care?
