Mass. health official quits, rumors say he's Washington bound

Apr 17 2010

The Boston Globe: "Jon Kingsdale, head of the quasi-state agency that oversees Massachusetts' landmark health law, is stepping down June 4, Governor Deval Patrick said yesterday." Though Kingsdale's next move is not yet known, he "is interested in working on implementation of the national health care overhaul that was in large measure modeled on the Massachusetts law," which he says is "going to be the toughest implementation of federal policy since the civil rights law" (Lazar, 4/16).

The Washington Post: Kingsdale is the founding executive director of the Massachusetts Health Connector, the agency at the heart of the state's 2006 universal health-care law. In his resignation letter, Kingsdale wrote, "In my next venture, I hope to play some role in national healthcare reform."

"Kingsdale also included a thinly veiled retort to Republican Mitt Romney, who signed the Massachusetts law as the state's governor but has in recent weeks been playing down the similarities between it and the national legislation, which he has loudly criticized. 'We should all feel very proud of having created the model for national health reform,' Kingsdale wrote"  (MacGillis, 4/15).

Boston Business Journal: In an interview, "Kingsdale said that after national health reform passed, it became clear that there would be a lot of changes to implement national reform ...." Rumors are circulating among state health insurers that Kingsdale already has a job offer in Washington, though he denies it (Donnelly, 4/15).