Quality, Cost, and Purpose: Comparisons of Government and Private Sector Payments for Similar Services

Explore our online budget database Is our research helpful to you? Support our work Contact Info   Noah Berger   President   nberger@massbudget.org   (617) 426-1228 x102   Tom Benner   Communications Director   tbenner@massbudget.org   (617) 426-1228 x100 Quality, Cost, and Purpose: Comparisons of Government and Private Sector Payments for Similar Services   January 23, 2011 A new MassBudget report, Quality, Cost, and Purpose: Comparisons of Government and Private Sector Payments for Similar Services, looks at what our state government pays for early education and care, health care, and education, and compares those costs to what is paid for those services in the private sector.    In providing child care (which Massachusetts calls ''early education and care'' in recognition of the importance of quality early care in the educational development of children) for lower-income working parents, the state purchases care from providers who also provide care to private clients. The rates that the state pays these providers range from 66 percent to 96 percent of the median market rate in different regions of the state.   Our state Medicaid and Commonwealth Care health insurance programs buy health care in the same market as private payers, but pay on average only 80 percent of the rates paid by private payers. Finally, this paper finds that the average cost of public schools, $13,142 per student, is dramatically below the cost of non-religious private schools, which average $32,084 per student -- and generally educate children from less challenging backgrounds. The report, Quality, Cost, and Purpose: Comparisons of Government and Private Sector Payments for Similar Services, is available at www.massbudget.org or by clicking here.                                 - - - - - See MassBudget's Budget Browser to explore Massachusetts state budgets from Fiscal Year 2001 to the present.   MassBudget provides independent research and analysis of state budget and tax policies, as well as economic issues, with particular attention to the effects on low- and moderate-income people.