Healey leans into affordability issues, Trump in annual address

Gov. Maura Healey used her State of the Commonwealth address Thursday night to roll out a slate of policy initiatives aimed at affordability, while also sharpening a campaign-year message that casts Massachusetts as a bulwark against President Donald Trump.

In a 50-minute speech to a statewide audience, Healey blended announcements on health care, housing, education, energy and social media with pointed political rhetoric as she prepares for a 2026 reelection bid. Repeatedly invoking Massachusetts history and identity, the governor framed her agenda as a continuation of what she described as the state’s tradition of leadership and resistance during moments of national upheaval. 

“In this moment, part of my job as governor is to help us provide what the federal government hasn’t: stability, security – and how about a little common sense?” Healey said.

 Much of the address focused on the rising cost of living here and Healey’s recent efforts to position herself as a champion of pocketbook relief at a time when voters across the country remain frustrated by high prices and economic uncertainty. Healey opened by acknowledging the strain families are feeling. 

“The reality is that these are really tough times. People are feeling it. Everything’s more expensive,” she said, ticking through groceries, coffee, clothing, sports fees and household repairs. “Fixing that, and lowering costs, should be the focus of every elected official in America. It’s certainly mine.”

Medical debt, health care affordability

Healey announced a plan to ban medical debt from being reported to credit agencies, a step that would place Massachusetts among a growing number of states seeking to shield residents’ financial standing from the fallout of illness or injury.

“It’s bad enough to get a huge bill and you’re dealing with an illness. But to have it wreck your credit on top of that, it’s just not right. So we’re not going to let that happen,” Healey said. 

The governor framed the proposal as part of an effort to confront rising health care costs. These have strained Massachusetts families and employers, with total health care spending per resident climbing well above state benchmarks and outpacing wage growth — driving premiums, cost sharing, pharmacy spending and out-of-pocket costs to levels that more and more households are considering unaffordable. 

Healey pointed to investments to temporarily protect 270,000 ConnectorCare enrollees from premium increases after Congress declined to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits. She also highlighted new rules her administration is pursuing to eliminate prior authorization requirements for most prescriptions and procedures, with approvals now remaining valid even if patients change jobs. 

“If your doctor says you need it, you’ll get it,” Healey said to loud applause in the House chamber. 

While lawmakers focus their health care work on primary care investments, the governor said she is directing leaders across health care, insurance, labor and business to convene a new Health Care Affordability Working Group to continue developing cost-cutting proposals throughout 2026.  

“Health care is broken in America, and we can’t wait for Washington to act,” she said. “We’re the state with the best health care, we’re going to be the state to figure it out and fix it for our people.” 

Social media restrictions targeting minors

 Healey also previewed forthcoming legislation to impose strict new limits on social media companies that target children and teens, an issue that has gained bipartisan traction nationally but has proven difficult to regulate. 

“As someone who’s got two teenagers at home, something we all worry about is social media,” Healey said. 

In a moment that drew nods and light laughter from the chamber, Healey acknowledged that she, like many adults, uses social media, but argued that the platforms’ design poses particular risks for younger users. 

“Look, scrolling TikTok or Insta, it’s fun! But there’s a time and a place,” she said, before warning that “these platforms, let’s be serious, are built with addictive algorithms. They exploit our insecurities, especially in our young people.” 

She said she is proposing strict new requirements which will require parental consent and age verification on social media platforms and will prevent companies from “targeting kids for profit.” The proposal would also seek to curb features designed to keep minors engaged for long periods of time. 

“Parents are trying to protect their kids, and we’re going to help them do it,” Healey said. 

Senate President Karen Spilka said she was “very pleased” with the governor’s social media policy announcement.  

“It aligns really wonderfully with the Senate’s [student] cellphone ban and with our data privacy bill,” she said. “It really hones in on protecting children, which is what we have been focusing on.”

Early college and apprenticeships

In education, Healey announced that she’ll propose a $15 million investment in her fiscal year 2027 budget next week to expand early college and dual enrollment programs. She set new goals of enrolling 100,000 students in early college and registering 100,000 apprentices within the next decade.

Healey described early college as a way to both save families money and accelerate students’ paths into higher education and careers, noting she has attended graduations where students earned a high school diploma and an associate degree simultaneously. 

“We want to lean into that opportunity,” she said.

Transportation and accelerated bridge construction 

Transportation featured prominently, with Healey again praising MBTA General Manager Phil Eng to the most rancorous applause of the night. Looking ahead, she announced a new Accelerated Bridge Construction program as part of an $8 billion, 10-year transportation investment plan.

“This year, we are accelerating bridge construction that will open up closed bridges and make repairs faster,” Healey said. “I’ve challenged my team to move faster than ever, fix your roads and bridges and get you moving again.” 

That includes 27 bridges in western Massachusetts alone, she said. Rep. Leigh Davis of Great Barrington rose solo to cheer for the initiative.  

Healey tied the proposal to everyday frustrations with congestion and detours, and framed infrastructure spending as both an economic and quality-of-life issue. Healey, who is driven by a state trooper, invoked the shared experience of sitting in traffic as she made the case for faster infrastructure repairs. 

“There’s traffic. I’m sick of it. I’m sick of it. We’re all sick of it. We sit on 93, 128, the Pike. Sometimes we drive miles around somewhere because a local bridge is closed and has been closed for 10 years,” she said.  

Energy affordability and ratepayer relief

The governor devoted a portion of her speech to energy costs, which have emerged as a defining political issue on Beacon Hill and theme in the 2026 governor’s race. She pledged to oppose any major rate hikes proposed by utilities and summarized a broader strategy combining short-term relief with longer-term structural reforms. 

“Bills are too high. Bills are way too high. People can’t afford it. They’re getting killed. They’re getting crushed. I get that,” Healey said. “I’m going to oppose any big rate hike proposed by the utilities.” 

She pointed to ratepayer relief that her administration announced Thursday morning that will temporarily cut electric bills by 25% and gas bills by 10% in February and March, as well as her energy affordability legislation aimed at increasing supply, lowering delivery costs and giving utilities greater flexibility to procure cheaper power.  

Healey also said she has directed utilities to justify every fee on customers’ bills, vowing to strike charges that are not providing value.

Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, who joined members of the GOP caucus in filing affordability legislation last week, said after the speech that he thought Republicans and Democrats could work together on energy costs.  

“She has proposed a very interesting idea about postponing the cost of electricity bills. We have proposed a long-term solution, and we would encourage her to pick up our bill that we filed a couple of days ago and read that. We also think that we can agree on increasing supplies of energy. That’s very important. That’s something that we’ve been talking about for quite a while,” Tarr said.  

House Minority Leader Brad Jones also brought up energy when asked for his impressions of the speech. 

“She talked about energy, but then didn’t highlight the fact that the money she wants to give has to be kind of recollected,” the North Reading Republican said, later adding, “The details is like we’re going to give money back in February, March, and then you’re going to pay more in the summer.”  

Food banks, fees and consumer protections

The governor said her upcoming budget will increase funding for local food banks, a response to what she described as both inflation and federal instability, referencing the Trump administration’s freeze of SNAP benefits. 

“We’re not going to let anyone go hungry in Massachusetts,” she said. 

Healey also previewed proposals aimed at so-called “junk fees” and subscription costs, calling for legislation that would require companies to make canceling a subscription as easy as signing up, aligning state law with regulations issued by Attorney General Andrea Campbell.  

“They make it so easy to sign up but so hard to cancel. Canceling the subscription should be just as easy as signing up,” she said. “Let’s make that a law in Massachusetts.”

Campaign overtones and Trump

Threaded throughout the address was a clear campaign narrative, with Healey positioning herself as a defender of Massachusetts values in contrast to Trump. She sharply criticized the administration’s use of immigration enforcement and described incidents involving students and families detained by federal agents. 

“I was a prosecutor and Attorney General, and I can tell you: none of this makes us safer,” Healey said. “It doesn’t need to be this way, and it needs to stop. Enough is enough.”

Healey also accused Trump of driving up costs through tariffs, cutting health care funding, and sowing fear among vulnerable communities. The rhetoric marked a more confrontational tone than she used immediately after Trump’s election, as national politics have begun to play a larger role in her reelection campaign. 

“But I have a message tonight: This is Massachusetts,” she said. “We don’t back down. We look out for each other. We stand for what we believe, and we will not change who we are — ever.”

Looking ahead

 Healey closed by returning to Massachusetts history, quoting Samuel Adams’ admonition to “Never Despair” and tying the upcoming 250th anniversary of American independence to her vision for the state’s future. 

“Our nation faces new tests — Massachusetts will lead again,” she said, describing a state “where if you work hard, you can afford to live; and where people from around the world look to us for learning, innovation, opportunity, and freedom.”