Eleven state lawmakers, including the top Democrat in the state House, will fly to Cuba on Friday for what they’re describing as a fact-finding trip on the island nation’s interest in biomedical research.
The trip comes as a trio of major health care bills addressing hospital oversight, prescription drug pricing and access, and substance use disorder remain on the rocks with less than two months remaining in the two-year session, State House News Service reported.
The lawmakers, who said they are paying for the trip out of their own pockets or, where allowed, dipping into campaign funds, will meet with public officials, hospital staff, charitable organizations, and members of academic and research institutes on the Communist-controlled island.
The meetings will “serve as an opportunity to discuss the importance of investing in healthcare systems, along with NIH collaborations focused on public health and disease, strategies related to climate resiliency and responses to flooding, and ongoing innovations in the life sciences industry,” said state Rep. Marjorie Decker, the Cambridge Democrat whose office is coordinating the trip.
Decker, D-25th Middlesex, is the House chairperson of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Health.
Lawmakers embarking on the trip, including state House Speaker Ronald J. Mariano, D-3rd Norfolk, were briefed on the trip by the U.S. State Department and the office of U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-2nd District, according to the statement.
The trip “will allow state leaders to learn more about the Cuban healthcare system, climate resiliency strategies, and life science innovations,” McGovern said.
“It will also facilitate critical conversations about how to get much-needed humanitarian aid to the Cuban people,” McGovern, who described himself as a “strong believer in the power of diplomatic dialogue,” added.
Another senior House leader, Ways & Means Committee Chairperson Aaron Michlewitz, D-3rd Suffolk, also will join the Bay State’s delegation.
Relations between the United States and Cuba have long been frosty. McGovern said he believes it’s time “to rethink America’s failed, cold-war approach to dealing with Cuba.”
Decker said she’s hoping to “learn more about Cuban interests in biomedical research on this trip and to share the successes of Massachusetts’s continued investment in our healthcare and life science industries.”
The lawmakers also joining the trip are:
State Rep. Jennifer Balinsky Armini, D-8th EssexState Rep. Michael Day, D-31st MiddlesexState Rep. Mindy Domb, D-3rd HampshireState Rep. Ken Gordon, D-21st MiddlesexState Rep. John Lawn, D-10th MiddlesexState Rep. Frank Moran, D-17th EssexState Rep. Mike Moran, D-18th SuffolkState Rep. Jeff Roy, D-10th Norfolk
A few hours before lawmakers announced their Cuba trip, Mariano suggested in an unrelated press availability he intends to take a bit of a break, the wire service reported.
“I have no intent to do anything right now except maybe take a few days off,” the Quincy Democrat said in response to questions about altering or repealing the voter-approved law governing legislative audits.
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Publish date : 2024-11-14 07:52:00
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