SWAMPSCOTT — Douglas Thompson, who is off and running for 8th Essex District representative, says that the issue of affordability is crucial for his campaign. Thompson’s career previously included managing large financial organizations in health care.
“Health care, housing, transportation, education — all of these things were expensive and challenging before the pandemic, and now they are even worse,” said Thompson.
The position Thompson is running for, which represents portions of Marblehead, Swampscott, and Lynn, is currently vacant after Lori Ehrlich resigned in the beginning of February. Thompson said that in many ways he was going to continue the policy line put forward by Ehrlich.
Like Ehrlich, Thompson graduated from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and has a solid background in finance, similar to Ehrlich, who worked as a CPA.
Thompson said that as the CFO of MassHealth, he managed the Commonwealth’s $8 billion Medicaid program, and this experience will be indispensable for him in managing the $50 billion state budget. Thompson, who started that position in 2007 after the first universal coverage insurance reform happened in Massachusetts in 2006, also has experience in implementing major health care reform.
“I am the only one in this race who has this level of large-scale healthcare and financial management experience,” said Thompson.
Health care accounts for 40 percent of the state budget, and it is the fastest growing area in it, and in that regard, Thompson’s experience in running large-scale complex health innovations is essential.
“I had to negotiate with the federal government, the legislators, all the different interest groups, such as health plans, hospitals, physician groups, inside the executive branch and consumer advocacy groups,” said Thompson.
One of Thompson’s major accomplishments in that position was to put a hold on the annual 5-10 percent increases in the cost of insurance during the 2008 crisis by negotiating with health plans and hospitals to keep their rates under control, and to use evidence-based approaches to keep people out of hospitals and emergency rooms.
In the private health care sector, Thompson was a co-founder and CEO of Perfect Health, which went national after its merger with Concerto Health. Perfect Health delivers primary care to seniors at home, and as a small business leader Thompson understands what the challenges are for businesses in this environment.
Through his career in health care, Thompson came to a broader understanding of the concept of health that includes housing, transportation, education and environment, and wants to give these elements adequate attention in giving back to the health care community.
“There is much more that impacts people’s health — housing, transportation, education, the environment that they live in, and all of these issues are very connected and are part of a larger idea to keep the people in this community healthy,” said Thompson.
Women’s rights and providing access to abortion services as a fundamental women’s right in healthcare is also important to Thompson.
“In light of what happened, I am a very strong advocate of women’s rights to abortion and women’s healthcare,” said Thompson.
The environment is as much of a crucial issue for Thompson as it was for Ehrlich, and is one of the main issues on his election agenda.
He has the plan to bring the Commonwealth to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 by electrifying “just about everything,” as Thompson put it.
“That ball is already rolling,” he said.
Along with plans to make the commuter rail electric and reinstating the ferry from Lynn to Boston, Thompson is also a strong advocate for the cleaning of King’s Beach in partnership with state Sen. Crighton and Congressman Seth Moulton.
Born and raised in Buffalo, N.Y., Thompson said that he remembers the times when he and his family needed and received community support after his father, who worked for General Motors, was laid off for two years due to the shrinking of the automobile industry at that time.
Thompson now lives with his wife, a professor of architecture at Wentworth Institute of Technology who also serves on Swampscott Historical Commission, and his daughter, a rising senior at St. Mary’s School in Lynn.
Thompson said that he has a deep appreciation of how critical the city of Lynn is to the area, and that he is excited “about the leadership here in Lynn and all of the improvements that are happening.”
Just like other leaders in this area, Thompson is focused “on getting stuff done, not just talking about it, and not just being dramatic.” After knocking on literally thousands of doors in the district for his campaign and listening to the people’s wants, Thompson is looking forward to “delivering real progress.”
“I know how to manage financially, and how to bring people together, and how to make progress,” he said. “I love this community and Massachusetts, and a lot is going very well here, but we can do much, much better.”
Oksana Kotkina can be reached at [email protected].
