Making Healthcare More Accessible and Affordable:
Putting Patients First
Healthcare costs are soaring, and too many Massachusetts residents cannot find a primary care doctor. Families are paying more for insurance, waiting longer for appointments, and struggling to get the medical care they need. Something has to change. Our healthcare system has become too focused on insurance companies, large hospital systems, and administrative bureaucracy rather than patients and the doctors who care for them. As your State Representative, I will fight to strengthen primary care, reduce unnecessary healthcare costs, and put patients and doctors back at the center of medicine.
A Plan Based on PC4YOU's Primary Care Reform Initiative
My approach draws on the work of Primary Care for You (PC4YOU), a Massachusetts initiative advocating fundamental changes in how primary care is funded and delivered. One of the leading figures behind this initiative is Dr. Wayne Altman, a prominent Massachusetts physician and advocate for primary care reform. Dr. Altman is Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health at UMass Chan Medical School, a longtime practicing family physician, a 15-time Boston Top Doctor, and President-Elect of the Massachusetts Academy of Family Physicians. He spent nearly three decades teaching the next generation of doctors as the Chair of Family Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. He also founded the Massachusetts Primary Care Alliance for Patients (MAPCAP), which supports the PC4YOU initiative.
With a career devoted to family medicine, physician education, and improving patient care, Dr. Altman brings considerable expertise to the effort. His work includes coauthoring a 2026 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) examining the case for a Primary Care Common Fund.
PC4YOU has developed a comprehensive framework designed to address the shortage of primary care physicians, strengthen independent medical practices, and change how healthcare dollars are spent.
I support the core principles of PC4YOU and will work to advance these reforms on Beacon Hill.
My Four Priorities for Primary Care Reform
1. Put Healthcare Dollars Directly Into Patient Care
Support PC4YOU's proposal for a transparent Primary Care Common Fund that directs more healthcare funding to the doctors, nurses, and clinicians providing care, rather than allowing those dollars to be consumed by unnecessary administrative costs. The goal is to ensure that the overwhelming majority of primary care funding reaches front-line medical practices, where it can make the greatest difference for patients.
2. Give Doctors Stable, Predictable Funding
Advance PC4YOU's proposed transition away from the traditional fee-for-service model, which pays for individual visits and procedures, toward predictable monthly payments. This approach would give primary care practices greater financial stability and allow doctors to focus on prevention, treatment, and long-term patient health rather than insurance billing requirements.
3. Expand Services at Local Medical Practices
Support PC4YOU's vision of coordinated primary care practices that can provide mental health counseling, nutritional support, preventive care, and other essential services. Patients should be able to obtain more of the care they need in one place, reducing unnecessary appointments, delays, and expenses.
4. Reduce Waste and Lower Healthcare Costs
Improve access to preventive care, detect chronic illnesses earlier, reduce avoidable emergency room visits, and eliminate unnecessary insurance paperwork. I will also support reforms that reduce burdensome prior authorizations and help patients benefit directly from prescription drug savings. Together, these changes can help control healthcare spending, reduce pressure on insurance premiums, and lower out-of-pocket costs for Massachusetts families.
This Crisis Is Personal
My 89-year-old mother lives in Orleans, Massachusetts, and cannot find a primary care doctor. Watching her struggle to obtain basic medical care has shown me firsthand how deeply this system is failing our seniors. And throughout the 2nd Essex District, I hear similar stories from families who cannot find doctors, face long waits for appointments, or struggle with rising medical bills.
No senior should have to go without a doctor, and no family should have to struggle to obtain basic medical care.
Why I Support These Reforms as a Republican
Let me be clear: These are not reforms you would ordinarily expect a Republican to champion. As a Republican, I believe in free markets, competition, fiscal responsibility, and limited government intervention. Proposals that require changes to healthcare spending and payment structures might seem contrary to those principles.
But our current healthcare system is not functioning like a free market.
Large hospital networks and insurance companies have consolidated enormous power, while independent doctors struggle to stay in business. Patients have fewer choices, costs continue to rise, and government regulations often reinforce the very bureaucracy that makes our system so expensive. There is nothing conservative about defending a system that wastes money, limits competition, and leaves seniors without access to a family doctor. And it Is not fiscally responsible to allow preventable illnesses to become expensive medical emergencies because patients cannot obtain basic primary care.
Sometimes restoring competition and fiscal accountability requires changing the rules that have allowed an inefficient system to flourish.
That is why I support PC4YOU's approach. The goal is not simply to spend more money on healthcare. It is to make better use of the enormous sums we already spend, direct more of those dollars to front-line medical professionals, and give patients greater access to affordable care. My commitment to fiscal responsibility has not changed. It is precisely why I believe these reforms are necessary.
We should not allow party labels or political orthodoxy to stand in the way of solutions that make sense for Massachusetts families.
Building on Bipartisan Progress
Healthcare reform should not be a Republican or Democratic issue. It should be about making the system work better for patients.
In July 2026, the Massachusetts House unanimously passed major primary care reform legislation by a vote of 158–0. The Senate passed its own version, and the two chambers began work on reconciling their differences. These bills represent important bipartisan progress toward increasing investment in primary care, improving access, and reducing administrative burdens. But important elements of the PC4YOU framework remain unfinished, particularly the proposed Primary Care Common Fund and stronger mechanisms to ensure that increased funding reaches front-line medical practices. The PC4YOU approach goes beyond increasing spending targets. It proposes structural changes to how primary care is financed, including a transparent funding mechanism and predictable monthly payments to medical practices.
Simply spending more money without changing how that money is distributed will not solve the underlying problem.
I will advocate for PC4YOU's Common Fund proposal, support practical payment reforms, and work with physicians and legislators from both parties to strengthen Massachusetts' primary care system.
Our District Deserves New, Active Leadership.
Passive Leadership Won't Get the Job Done.
Massachusetts has taken important bipartisan steps toward primary care reform, but the legislative record also raises questions about the level of leadership our district has received on this issue. Representative Kristin Kassner did not join the original primary care reform legislation, H.1370, until June 13, 2025, nearly five months after it was filed and a month after its public hearing.
When the House Ways and Means Committee advanced major primary care legislation in July 2026, the committee approved the measure 19–0. According to reporting by the Boston Globe, Kassner was among seven committee members recorded as taking no action during that vote. Kassner subsequently supported the legislation when it passed the full House unanimously. That support is welcome. But important reforms remain unfinished, including PC4YOU's proposed Primary Care Common Fund and stronger measures to direct funding to front-line medical practices.
The people of the 2nd Essex District deserve active engagement throughout the legislative process, from developing proposals and working with medical experts to advancing meaningful reforms.
I will make primary care access and affordability a legislative priority, working with PC4YOU, physicians, patients, and colleagues from both parties to pursue the structural changes our healthcare system needs.
Real Reform, Not More Bureaucracy
I believe in competition, fiscal accountability, and allowing independent businesses to thrive. Those same principles should apply to healthcare. Today, large hospital systems and insurance companies exercise enormous control over how medical care is delivered and paid for. Independent physicians often struggle under the weight of regulations, reimbursement practices, and administrative requirements. We need reforms that support independent medical practices, restore competition, and give patients more choices.
Healthcare should be about caring for people, not feeding bureaucracy.
By advancing PC4YOU's proposed reforms, working across party lines, and demanding greater accountability for healthcare spending, we can make primary care more accessible, help control costs, and build a healthcare system that puts Massachusetts families first.