BOSTON – Gov. Charlie Baker plans to boost state spending next fiscal year by 3.5 percent, making targeted investments while holding the line on many government accounts despite back-to-back years of major jobs gains that are pushing up state tax collections by an estimated 4.3 percent.
With a strong focus on fiscal restraint, Baker's budget reflects the ongoing reality that fixed costs required for MassHealth, pensions, debt service and other expenses continue to consume large chunks of new revenue, limiting the areas where policy leaders can spend new dollars without turning to taxes or reserves.
BOSTON – Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey may go after Gilead Sciences over the price of its new hepatitis C treatment, Sovaldi, calling the $84,000 cost of a full treatment against the deadly disease potentially an illegal unfair trade practice.
Healey referred to pricing for the drug as well as another hepatitis C treatment called Harvoni in speech Wednesday to members of the state's biotechnology industry, appealing to them for greater transparency in the way prices are set. She also called for making health care accessible to those who need it.
