‘Do we really trust these people?’: KIRO hosts wary after Massachusetts governor announces home visits for newborns

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey went viral this week after announcing plans to expand a state program that would send nurses into the homes of families with newborns, and the way she described it set off alarm bells far beyond New England.

“Everybody in the state, when you have a baby, you’re going to have a home visit,” Healey said. “You’re going to have a home visit within days or weeks, and that will be an opportunity for a health care provider to make an assessment.”

Healey announced on Sept. 15 that she’s asking for $2 million to expand the new state program to make voluntary home visits available statewide.

The proposal comes in the wake of the Lindsay Clancy trial, which ended in a mistrial after jurors could not unanimously agree on whether to hold her criminally responsible for killing her three children in January 2023. Clancy’s defense argued she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.

The state’s formal announcement describes the program as voluntary, and KIRO fill-in host Greg Tomlin acknowledged Healey “did misspeak a little bit” in making it sound mandatory. But he said that distinction doesn’t settle the matter.

“It’s just another example of more government intrusion into people’s private lives,” Greg said on “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “Does everybody know that it’s voluntary, and that they have the opportunity to opt in and opt out?”

When KIRO host Jake Skorheim asked for Greg’s gut reaction to the clip, Greg didn’t hesitate and played a clip of former President Ronald Reagan.

“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help,'” Reagan’s voice played through the studio.

“That just immediately came to mind when I read about this story,” Greg said.

Jake warns what starts voluntary doesn’t always stay that way

Jake said the surface-level appeal of the program is exactly what makes it dangerous over time. A new baby in the house is stressful, and he understands why someone might welcome the help. But he said the trajectory of government programs is predictable.

“It sounds like a nice idea until you start thinking about how the state runs things, which is very, very poorly,” Jake said. “I could see a version where they eventually get some data, and they go, ‘Hey, we’ve been doing this for a while, and we like doing these checks. And also, by the way, we’re getting a lot of taxpayer dollars that go into this system. We want to grow this system. We want to expand it. What if we started mandating this system?'”

He said it wouldn’t take much for a state to start framing refusal as a red flag, arguing that “anybody who would be against the state just checking in to make sure that your kids are okay is clearly somebody who’s trying to hide something.”

Jake then asked whether something similar could take root in Washington, and pointed to the state’s own track record with the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF). DCYF accounted for nearly 80% of the state’s tort claim payouts in fiscal year 2025, and Washington’s total lawsuit costs hit a record $614 million in fiscal year 2026.

“All the lawsuits against them, and failing to check up on kids who are under their supervision and care, these would be the same people in the Washington equivalent to what they’re doing in Massachusetts who would be coming out to your house and making assessments,” Jake said. “Do we really trust that these people are going to be the best people for that?”

For Jake, the answer is simple.

“I would much rather trust a parent than I would the government,” he said. “I think the parent 99 times out of 100 is going to be more caring and more loving of that kid than the government can, because I don’t want the government to be caring and loving. I just want them to keep the roads clear and safe.”

Greg frames the deeper question

Greg said the debate goes beyond any single program and gets at something foundational about the relationship between citizens and the state.

“You’re getting to something more fundamental and philosophical in the way we view government and its role in our lives, which is I want very little of it,” Greg said. “I would be skeptical of a government that wants to get involved in your kids’ preschool, your maternity leave, your college, your grocery stores, and on and on and on. Do we trust private citizens, or do we trust the government to come in and make those decisions for us?”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3