by Sandy Eaton
Over many years we’ve witnessed our state government’s benign neglect of the health needs of our diverse working-class communities. The demise of Steward Health Care last year laid bare the unwillingness of the Healey-Driscoll-Walsh Administration to address the devastating effects of such inaction.
The Healey Administration’s 2026 budget would further shrink the state’s footprint in rehabilitation and mental health by shutting the Pappas Rehabilitation Center and the Pocasset Mental Health Center. The affected communities are up in arms, backed by the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) and SEIU Local 509. What was once benign neglect has now become active assault on access to care, by both our neoliberal state government and the neofascist administration in Washington. Dubbed “purposeful chaos” by the media, the deluge of federal funding freezes, shock-and-awe cutbacks and direct attacks on every social advance since Reconstruction has left us reeling but not knocked out.
Consider our fifty federally-qualified community health centers, delivering culturally competent care close to home. In Massachusetts, they care for approximately a million patients, providing primary care regardless of ability to pay; consequently, most of these centers have relied on federal funding for up to 40% of their budgets. Now community health centers are getting notices from HRSA, the main federal healthcare funding agency, ordering them to abandon federally-funded programs related to DEI (Diversity, equity and inclusion) and gender identity. Moreover, immigrant communities in Massachusetts are being terrorized by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal police agencies, and their healthcare providers are being threatened.
The privatization of health care has increased the inequities in the system. For example, UnitedHealth overcharged some cancer patients for drugs by over 1,000%.
Addressing the attacks from the oligarchy requires a broad front of resistance, paying special attention to our immigrant sisters and brothers, to communities of color, to women and to the LGBTQ community. Some efforts are already underway. On the local level, Mass-Care raised the call for eminent domain and the creation of a state healthcare trust. The MNA pushed hard on Beacon Hill, in the affected communities and with the media. Massachusetts Peace Action (MAPA) produced a series of webinars laying out the background and advocating solutions.
On the national level, some federal courts have issued injunctions to stop some of the assaults on poor and working-class communities; unfortunately, these injunctions are by nature temporary. Demonstrative actions in DC by federal workers and their unions have been powerful, with similar actions in cities across the country. While several unions have been fighting in their own spheres, all need to be engaged and united.
The outpouring of feeling on social media following the murder of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson on the streets of New York reflects widespread despair with health care inequities; however, individual acts of violence never produce real change. Organization gives strength, so building movements including non-profits such as Mass Peace Action (MAPA), our unions, and our coalitions is necessary. A well-planned, well-executed general strike as part of a broad offensive to set the oligarchy back on its heels might be a place to start.