CommonWealth Beacon

MASSACHUSETTS HAS LONG prided itself on having one of the nation’s premier health care systems. Our hospitals are renowned, our physicians are among the best in the world, and our commitment to expanding coverage has served as a model for the country. Yet for many residents and employers, care is increasingly unaffordable and out of reach. The numbers tell a troubling story.

THE US SUPREME COURT’S final stretch before its summer recess ended last week with a flurry of rulings on high-profile cases, including birthright citizenship, the independence of the Federal Reserve, trans athletes, and mail-in ballots. More ideologically split than in prior terms, the highest court in the nation often divided cleanly along political lines, and its conservative majority prevailed 6-3 in more than a fifth of its rulings this session.

A NEGOTIATING STALEMATE BETWEEN Mass General Brigham and thousands of nurses and home care clinicians spilled into Gov. Maura Healey’s office Monday, as she pushed for a compromise ahead of a historic strike this week.

LARGELY DUE TO OVERPAYMENTS, Massachusetts registered a 12.5 percent error rate for SNAP benefits in fiscal year 2025, which could put the state on the hook to cover more of the cost of the federal food and nutrition assistance program. The error rate exceeded the national rate of 10.6 percent as well as the 6 percent threshold that Congress approved as part of a law intended to force states to be more vigilant about oversight.

MASSACHUSETTS HAS A problem with toxic PFAS chemicals, and I should know. When I was the town administrator of Easton in 2019, our community of 25,000 people was one of the first in the state to learn that our drinking water was contaminated with PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals”, exceeding what is now the state legal limit of 20 parts per trillion. Today, across the Commonwealth have exceeded the state’s legal limit for PFAS.

ON A WEEKDAY MORNING in Boston’s Longwood Medical Area, patients hurry between hospital buildings for appointments. Parents push strollers toward Boston Children’s Hospital. Doctors and nurses move quickly as ambulances arrive outside the emergency department. At other hospitals blocks away, there are cancer patients shuttling to their doctors and patients with respiratory problems, including asthma, who are especially vulnerable to the effects of pollution.

ASK ANY PARENT about child care in Massachusetts, where the average cost of placing an infant into full-time, center-based care surpasses $26,000, and they might break into a cold sweat. Despite increased investment by Beacon Hill, child care costs in Massachusetts continue to top national rankings.

A SIGNATURE COMPONENT of the Trump administration’s agenda to dismantle public education is a federal school voucher program that would take effect in 2027. This scheme, from The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, threatens to gravely undermine public education across the United States and puts the Commonwealth’s standing in public education at risk. Vouchers are a product of the anti-integration movement in the wake of Brown v.

GOV. MAURA HEALEY has the next 10 days to review and act on the $63.4 billion budget that lawmakers sent her Wednesday, the first day of the new fiscal year the budget covers. The compromise (H 5555) that cleared both branches Wednesday with just a handful of dissenting votes features $63.42 billion in line-item spending, an increase of $2.37 billion or 3.9 percent over the budget Healey signed last July and roughly $54.3 million larger than the fiscal year 2027 budget she proposed in January.

AS AMERICA COMMEMORATES the 250th anniversary of its Independence, I find myself reflecting with both measured pride and deep unease. The American experiment is a remarkable milestone worthy of celebration, but it is also an opportunity for honest self-examination. Here in Massachusetts, this anniversary carries special meaning. The American Revolution began on our streets.