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Small rally calls on Baystate to support Massachusetts Medicare for All

by | Jun 11, 2026 | Hampden County, Local News, Springfield

A handful of protesters including congressional candidate Nadia Milleron, hold signs outside single-payer universal health care outside Baystate Health administrative offices.
Reminder Publishing photo by Sarah Heinonen

SPRINGFIELD — A small group of people, led by Nadia Milleron, a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, stood outside Baystate Health’s administrative offices in Springfield, urging the company to support single-payer universal health care in Massachusetts.

The group hoisted signs reading, “You die when insurance decides,” “Let doctors decide, not insurance companies” and “Health care workers save lives. Insurance companies do not.” Several vehicles honked their horns or called out cheers of support as they drove by.

Milleron said Baystate Health’s lobbyists, including former state Sen. Michael Knapik, are pushing to stop a pair of bills in the Legislature that would establish single-payer universal health care. Milleron said that because Baystate Health owns the insurance company Health New England, it has a vested interest in keeping the state from adopting the health care system.

The bills that would institute “Medicare for all” are stalled in the Legislature, Milleron said. State Senate bill S.860 and its companion bill in the state House of Representatives, H.1405, assert that Massachusetts residents have a right to equitable access to “comprehensive” health care “without co-insurance, co-payments, deductibles, or any other form of patient cost sharing.” A health care tax on employers, workers and residents would replace the insurance premiums and out-of-pocket expenses people currently pay, and a dedicated trust set up by the state would pay health care providers.

The House and Senate bills were introduced in February 2025 and referred to their respective health care financing committees. After a joint hearing in June 2025, the state House has twice extended the deadline to hear about the bill, while the state Senate ordered a study in January of this year. The Legislature’s session will officially end on Jan. 5, 2027, but historically, not much legislation has been passed in the last six months of the session.

Sarah Heinonen
sheinonen@thereminder.com |  + posts