State Health Secretary: A Second Person Has Died In Massachusetts From Vaping-Related Illness

A second person in Massachusetts has died due to a vaping-related illness, Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders said Wednesday. Sudders identified the individual as a woman from Middlesex county in her 40s.

The news comes less than two weeks after Gov. Charlie Baker released a comprehensive health care bill, which he said he hopes will lead to an increase in Massachusetts residents' access to primary care, behavioral health and addiction treatment services.

The 179-page health care bill, which the Baker administration introduced Oct. 18, would limit prescription drug price increases to inflation plus two percent per year and would require a state review process for new drugs that cost more than $50,000 per patient per year. Among other reforms, the bill would also ban surprise medical bills for emergency services, and would create a regulatory framework for urgent care centers.

Sudders touted the bill as a "value-based health care bill" that increases patients' access to primary and behavioral health care services.

"At the heart of it is really opening up access for consumers on a holistic, primary, and behavioral health care. And it will save money down the road," Sudders said in an interview with WGBH Morning Edition Host Joe Mathieu.

Baker, for his part, rejected the notion that his proposed legislation aims to overhaul the state's health care system. He said he sees the bill more as a "fine tuning."

"What we're going to get here ... is a health care system that I believe will be more in tune with the issues and the concerns that people in today's 21st century are dealing with," Baker told Mathieu. "We clearly need to solve some of these gaps in care and coverage and service. And if we do, I do think the system will do a better job of serving the people accountable."

The bill was released amidst intense debate over the Baker administration's four-month ban on vaping products announced last month. The administration says the ban is necessary so that the state can get more information about the negative health effects of vaping and create a regulatory framework around it. Critics say the ban is disrupting the local economy and could also drive former smokers back to cigarettes.

Baker said he would like the bill to spark "a long and fruitful debate" on Beacon Hill and is hopeful there will be a hearing on the bill sometime this fall.