The health care crisis in Massachusetts is increasingly impacting Watertown residents and others across the state. The bankruptcy of the Steward Health Care System and the unfair profit-driven practices of insurance corporations, hospital conglomerates and “Pharma” have increased premiums to make insurance and needed care out of reach for thousands of working people, while the ability of our businesses to hire, grow and promote their employees diminishes. The costs incurred under the current healthcare system are an unnecessary burden to individuals, families, businesses, cities and towns, including Watertown.
We believe that access to affordable, quality health care is a human right and a fundamental component of a decent and just society. Yet the United States remains one of the few developed nations that does not provide an equitable system of universal health coverage to its residents, while health outcomes are far worse and costs far higher. In the United States, 31% of healthcare spending is used for administrative costs, executive salaries, and profits. By contrast, Medicare serves 66 million people nationwide and functions with only 3% overhead. We can do better.
In the November 2024 Massachusetts election, residents of the 10th Middlesex district, including Watertown, voted 68.5% in favor of implementing Medicare for All through the Massachusetts Health Care Trust, reflecting substantial support for single-payer universal coverage among the electorate. All ten other districts with the question on the ballot also voted “yes,” including two majority Republican districts, demonstrating bipartisan support of the measure.
Savings to Watertown would be significant. In Fiscal Year 2026, the City of Watertown is expected to spend more than $20 million on health insurance for its employees and retirees. Under the Massachusetts Health Care Trust, Watertown would no longer need to arrange or pay for employee insurance, spending $7 million instead and saving $13 million or more annually — funds that could support other community priorities. The Trust would be funded by a 2.5% income tax applied to earnings above $20,000, as well as a payroll tax for businesses — 7.5% for most (after the first $20,000), and 8% if they employ more than 100 people.
Thirty-nine percent (39%) of Massachusetts State Representatives and 45% of State Senators have endorsed S.860/H.1405 (click on https://masscare.org/ and see Legislature and Co-sponsors). Several members of the United States Congress, including among our Massachusetts delegation, champion Medicare for All, and efforts continue at the federal level.
This legislation aims to create a Health Care Trust, partially funded by taxes, though for 98% of Massachusetts residents, these taxes would cost significantly less than their current insurance premiums, deductibles, and copays. The Massachusetts Health Care Trust would:
a. cover all necessary preventive care and medical treatment from prenatal care to hospice (including dental, eye, hearing, mental health and long-term care);
b. enable people to see any licensed in-state provider for health care and to receive out-of-state emergency care; and
c. ensure health decisions are made between patients and their health care providers, not insurance executives.
We Watertown City Councilors endorse and support An Act Establishing Medicare for All in Massachusetts, Bills H. 1405 and S.860, currently before the legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, establishing the Massachusetts Health Care Trust, and also the Medicare for All legislation before the United States Congress, and ask our elected leaders to urge the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing to vote the bills “ought to pass”, and to work proactively to create a single payer system of universal health care that provides all Massachusetts residents with comprehensive health care coverage, including the freedom to choose doctors and other health care professionals, facilities, and services, and eliminates the role of insurance companies in health care by creating the publicly administered Massachusetts Health Care Trust.
Mark S. Sideris, Watertown City Council President
Caroline Bays, Councilor-at-Large
John G. Gannon, Councilor-at-Large
Theophilus (Theo) Offei, Councilor-at-Large
Anthony Palomba, Councilor-at-Large
Nicole Gardner, District A Councilor
Lisa J. Feltner, District B Councilor
Vincent J. Piccirilli, District C Councilor
A copy of this letter and signatures will be sent to: Senator William N. Brownsberger, Representative Steve Owens, Representative John Lawn, Co-chair of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing (HCHCF), Senator Cindy Friedman, co-chair of JCHCF, members of JCHCF, Governor Maura Healey, State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg; Senate President Karen Spilka; Speaker of the House Ronald Mariano, Senator James Eldridge, lead Senate bill sponsor, Representatives Lindsay Sabadosa and Margaret C. Scarsdale, lead House co-sponsors, U.S. Congresswoman Katherine Clark; U.S. Congressman James McGovern, U.S Senator Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Senator Ed Markey, and Watertown City Manager George Proakis.