Improving and expanding health care coverage will help retain biotech companies in Massachusetts, Gov. Mitt Romney said in his keynote speech to the Biotechnology Investment Conference on Thursday.
Speaking to representatives from the biotechnology industry, Romney promoted his plan to cut state expenses by offering low-cost health care to those who cannot afford it now. According to Romney, people who have health insurance take better care of themselves, so they avoid high-cost medical treatment and hospital visits.
“When the people have insurance, they make more doctor visits and use more prescription drugs,” Romney said. “They avoid serious illnesses that are high-cost in hospitals.”
Less than 10 percent of the state population is currently uninsured, he said. Romney believes that although the state government has an important role to play in making sure people get medical coverage, private insurance is better for the individual. Massachusetts needs a low-cost, affordable insurance product that can be available to everyone, he said.
Boston Medical Center, a hospital that provides free care to low-income people without insurance, initiated a program to determine the best way to reform health care. The program provided an experimental group of 20,000 uninsured patients with insurance cards and gave them access to a primary care physician.
According to Romney, participants in the program incurred one-third as much hospital costs as people who are uninsured. He named insurance providers like Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Care that are working to provide a low-cost insurance product available to all citizens.
“People who are uninsured do not die on the side of the street here,” Romney said. “The uninsured still get treatment, and it’s expensive.”
Taxpayers incur the cost of treating the uninsured, Romney said, so universal coverage will help reduce state expenses.
“[Washington, D.C.] is excited about this plan and is willing to provide $385 million,” Romney said. “It’s the right thing to do for the individual, the economy and for the biotechnology industry.”
Fadi Kassir, CEO of the biotechnology firm Cenovus, he felt optimistic about the governor’s approach to health care reform.
“It will create more opportunities for [the biotech] industry,” Kassir said in an interview. “I think his plan could work not just for Massachusetts, but the whole nation.”
Penelope Courtin, an associate at the Boston Redevelopment Authority who works to attract new biotechnology companies to the area, also said Romney’s plan would strengthen the biotech industry in Massachusetts. “If you are lowering health care costs, it makes a better market for these biotechnology companies,” Courtin said.
Romney cited the Milken Institute, an economic think tank, that called Massachusetts the No. 1 life-science state in the country. He added that he is making an effort to keep biotechnology companies in the state.
Thomas Finneran, president of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council and the former Democratic Speaker of the House, referred to Romney as “the best life scientist governor of the U.S.”
On Nov. 2, Romney signed an agreement with Italian officials in the Lombardia region of Italy, where 50 percent of the country’s biotechnology firms are located, to facilitate joint research projects and funding for Massachusetts biotechnology firms.
According to a press release from Romney’s office, Lombardia is attracted to Massachusetts because of the state’s commitment to increasing commercial opportunities in research and development.
But some biotech representatives yesterday expressed concerns about the high costs of real estate in the Boston and Cambridge areas.
“The governor spoke about health care reform, but the big question is about housing development,” said Ryan Weber, an associate for a firm that builds life science lab facilities.
Although Massachusetts has the brain power, it lacks the manufacturing power to actually produce medicines and products that biotechnology firms design, Weber said.
With high real estate prices in areas like Boston and Cambridge, many people are concerned that biotechnology firms will leave Massachusetts in search of cheaper property prices to build their manufacturing plants.
This was the seventh annual conference hosted by the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, where more than 50 public and private companies showcased technologies and products in front of portfolio managers, analysts, venture capitalists and other investment professionals.
Finneran announced that in two years, Boston will host “Bio 2007,” an event where professionals in the biotechnology industry will be able to explain their research and development initiatives.
“We want to showcase Boston and Cambridge as the capital of biotechnology and life sciences,” he said.