The health care market is already changing. As Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, notes, the state is making “dramatic progress” in transforming its health care system and slowing the growth in costs.

Early last year a group of business-affiliated organizations including the Retailers Association of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, came out in opposition to the bill.

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, criticized the House’s luxury tax on expensive providers and the “vast powers’’ of an independent new agency “that is going to be inserting itself into the health care system in a major way.’’

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said the ... Senate’s spending benchmark “strikes a better balance than the House between the need to squeeze cost out of the health care system without damaging the state’s world renowned health care sector.’’

Early last year, a group of business-affiliated organizations, including the North Shore Chamber of Commerce, the Retailers Association of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, came out in opposition to the bill.

According to a Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation study released in February 2011, Billerica ranks 36th statewide in total pension and post-employment benefits, or OPEB, provided to employees, adding up to $307.34 million.

Michael Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said the bill "inserts government into the marketplace to an extent that carries serious risks for the state’s world renowned health care system."

“Gov. Mitt Romney’s first budget proposal contains overdue and comprehensive reforms of the way state government operates but is undercut by overstated claims regarding its short-term fiscal benefits," according to the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

Michael Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said the number of earmarks in this budget pales in comparison to prefiscal-crisis spending plans. Earmarks also represent political victories for legislators, particularly in an election year, he said. "They're bringing home the bacon, so to speak," said Widmer.

"It was a grab bag of fee increases across the board to close the budget deficit," said Michael Widmer, president of the nonpartisan Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-backed fiscal watchdog group.

Statewide, at least 127 municipalities and regional school districts have made health care changes based on the new state law, totaling about $80 million in savings, according to a recent survey by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. That group estimates savings will soon surpass $100 million.

Earlier this year, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation examined unfunded retiree health-care liabilities in 10 midsize municipalities, including Worcester and Springfield, and found the debt averaged $13,685 per household. To pay those commitments over 30 years would require adding $565 a year to property tax bills on average, the group estimated.

The MTF analysis of increases and decreases due to the law is factual and transparent, and our calculation of the average annual change in state spending – $91 million – is a valid and accurate way to look at the budget impact. MTF has been doing this work for decades, and we’ve earned the trust of policymakers, politicians, and advocates representing many different viewpoints.

“He will be methodical, and likely have a structured process where he tries to examine the pluses and minuses of a group of candidates,” said Michael Widmer, the president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a nonpartisan public-policy organization. “He’ll depend on a small group of advisers; his whole career is having a small group around him. That’s his comfort level.”

A recent report by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation concludes that health care reform in the commonwealth is accomplishing what it was supposed to, and hasn't been the burden on taxpayers predicted at the time by opponents.

But economist Michael Widmer of the business backed Massachusetts Taxpayers foundation says while the recommendations are well intentioned, it's difficult to judge how well corporate tax breaks work. "When an individual purchases legal services, he or she doesn't pay a tax, or a haircut - no tax. How are we going to assess whether that's good or bad? That's a public policy decision."

“I’m confident this will be a serious effort, coming up with good analysis and discussion and thoughtful recommendations around some issues that may be superficially simple, but when you dig in are really fairly complicated,” Widmer said. “I have confidence in this group.”

Task force member Michael Widmer of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation said Orrall’s amendments are worth a look, but that the commission is more concerned with an in-depth analysis of the unemployment system than quick-fix legislation. “One thing I’ve learned about the unemployment-insurance system is how complex it is.

A report by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation concludes that health care reform in the commonwealth is accomplishing what it was supposed to, and hasn't been the burden on taxpayers predicted at the time by opponents.

Those three legs of the stool are what we put in place in Massachusetts and it’s worked incredibly well. We’ve covered about two thirds of our uninsured citizens, and we fixed the broken non-group health insurance market. We have taken a market, which was fundamentally broken, and cut the premiums in half over the first three years of the law’s implementation.

The Foundation is the respected, long-time, business-backed Massachusetts state fiscal watchdog agency, led by the respected Mike Widmer. In my years in the State House, I had loads of agreement and disagreements with MTF. Yet even in disagreements, they always hold the respect of friends and foes alike.

"Across much of the country, the politicians and the media and others have attacked the Massachusetts reform as being a 'budget buster,'" said Michael J. Widmer, president of the nonprofit, Boston-based research foundation. "The facts simply don't support that."

The nonprofit Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation has run the numbers on Romneycare, which recently celebrated its sixth birthday, and finds that the health insurance expansion hasn’t been the ‘budget buster’ that some expected.

“Worcester has done a good job trying to control health costs,” said Carolyn Ryan, police analyst for the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation (MTF). “It is still a huge and unaffordable problem.”

If the effects of Massachusetts health care reform law offer a preview of how Obamacare will transform the country, then a new report from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation has some promising news for the national law.

The 2006 Massachusetts law that requires most residents to have health insurance has cost the state a total of about $453 million, as of last June, according to a new report from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

The no votes are mind-boggling, especially in Brockton, a city that is struggling with a budget deficit of about $12 million, said Michael Widmer, executive director of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation and a key backer of the health care change. “Brockton really stands out in terms of turning its back on taxpayers,’’ said Widmer. “I think the numbers speak for themselves.

The report prepared for the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation found that Massachusetts spent $453 million more in state tax dollars in fiscal 2011 on programs that can be directly attributable to the health care reform law, an increase the report's authors said has been expected and manageable for state budget writers.

Premium increases sought by insurers have also slowed, the MTF report said. In the latest round of premium proposals for the small business market, increases averaged 2 percent to 3 percent, down from 15 percent to 20 percent two years ago. Nationally, premiums are averaging increases of 5.8 percent or more.

That’s just one of the myths the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation (MTF) hopes to debunk with a report out Friday. The facts will help. Michael Widmer, president of the MTF, says the state has spent just $91 million more a year since 2006 to cover the uninsured, than it was spending before the law passed. The sum amounts to 1.4 percent of the state budget.

The report by the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation concluded that direct state spending on the health care law grew from just over $1 billion in the 2006 fiscal year to more than $1.9 billion in the 2011 fiscal year.

That’s just one of the myths the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation (MTF) hopes to debunk with a report out Friday. The facts will help. Michael Widmer, president of the MTF, says the state has spent just $91 million more since 2006 to cover the uninsured than it was spending before the law passed. “That’s a very tiny additional costs to taxpayers for huge benefits,” argued Widmer.

Implementation of the law enacted in 2006 has been a bi-partisan achievement. It has added about 1 percent to state spending, according to a Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation analysis that Patrick cited and has encouraged the healthcare market to support cost-savings initiatives.

“What’s striking about the budget is the increase in local aid given the fiscal realities,” said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. “The increase is paid for in these reductions in other accounts across state government. I’m not necessarily faulting them, but it certainly stands out.”

The cost has been "marginal and very manageable," according to Michael Widmer of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "This fact runs counter to much of the national debate and claims that this has been a budget-buster," he said. "Nothing could be further from the truth."

Andrew Bagley, director of research at the Massa­chu­setts Taxpayers Foundation, believes the sales tax has suffered because Massachusetts never regained all the jobs it lost in the 2001 recession.

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Tax­payers Foundation, says the Legislature may be spending less time debating, but it’s still getting plenty done. During the 2009-2010 session, lawmakers passed major transportation initiatives and last year they approved municipal health care and pension reforms and set up a casino gambling framework.

Andrew Bagley of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation said lottery funds are an important subsidy for cities and towns. “They rely on it,’’ he said.

As we noted when we wrote about the Red White and Blue Fund ad, $1 billion was the high end of a projected budget shortfall for the following fiscal year. And, as it turns out, tax revenues came in much higher than expected due to an improving economy, largely erasing the projected deficit, said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

"There have been critics from the left and the right ... that have not wanted the Massachusetts experiment ... to succeed from the outset for different reasons," said Michael J. Widmer, the foundation's president. "Most of those critics are either out of state," or academics or single-payer advocates.

“I think we’re talking about a 5 to 8 cent a gallon increase, directed to the T” to solve the T budget woes for several years, Widmer said, but added that if there is a gas-tax hike coming, “We can’t keep asking taxpayers to bail out the MBTA.

According to Carolyn Ryan, a policy analyst for the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, an independent watchdog group, Salem’s fiscal picture is emblematic of what she called “a new normal.’’ “It will be a long, slow slog’’ before municipalities can get back to prerecession funding levels, if they ever do, Ryan said. “There’s a new fiscal reality; a new normal.

"It was done the way you'd do it if you were deciding what to invest in," said Michael Widmer, a veteran statehouse watcher with 40 years at the Massachusetts Taxpayer Foundation. "The actual input from the education community, from the stakeholders, was minuscule, if any. It went nowhere."

Even one of the experts cited by the Patrick administration on Wednesday to back up the governor’s jobs claims says the old numbers can no longer be relied upon. “Those data are no longer relevant and that comparison would have to be updated,” said Andy Bagley, director of research and public affairs for the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

Massachusetts municipalities that have taken the Legislature's prescription to fight ever-spiking health-care costs are already feeling relief. That's the diagnosis from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, which reported this week that since the law was signed by Gov. Deval Patrick in July, $80 million in rate relief has been realized statewide.

Michael Widmer, President of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, an independent public policy analysis organization, believes that the defined total of $26 billion in revenue being lost due to tax expenditures should be more specific.

The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-funded watchdog that advocated for the law, said in its report that the overhaul was likely to save more than the $100 million annually that had initially been projected by the group.

“That’s mind-boggling that a City Council would do that when the city faces these kinds of fiscal problems,” Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, told The Enterprise on Monday. “It’s a sell-out to the unions at the expense of the taxpayer.”

The two-page update from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation predicts savings are "certain" to exceed the $100 million per year estimate frequently mentioned by proponents of the law prior to its passage last year.

Michael Widmer, the Foundation's president, says nearly $80 million has been saved by the 62 communities that, so far, have either adopted the reform law or gone through collective bargaining. And as scores of other communities adopt the law, he expects savings will exceed the $100 million previously estimated in the law's first year.

Brook's care is free, but Massachusetts — with help from the federal government — spends roughly $182 million more every year on health coverage for low-income residents than it did before 2006, according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. And Brook worries about those costs.

There are still more positive signs for the state’s economy than negative, said Michael Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. He cited three months of improving national job numbers, as well as consumer and business confidence indices that have picked up recently.

“I’m not sure another governor could have done better,” says Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a not-for-profit group that analyzes the state’s economic and fiscal policies. “But, Romney is campaigning as a job creator.”

“This is certainly a cold shower,” said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. “If you look back at the economic recoveries of earlier times, this is a pale shadow of those.”

Another dozen communities have used the new law as leverage to negotiate health plan concessions from local unions without actually adopting the reform, said Michael Widmer, president of the Taxpayers Foundation. “Unions in many cases were more open to making changes that they had opposed for years in order to avoid having the law implemented in their particular community,” Widmer said.

"The revenue did come in a bit better than planned, and ultimately Patrick presented a balanced budget," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, an independent budget think tank.

That piece was a dud with budget hawks like Michael Widmer, president of the nonpartisan Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, who felt it was a giveaway to businesses that never had to prove they needed the dough or they’d keep the workers after taking the cash.

As more municipalities opt in, the reform law is probably on track to yield far more than the $100 million in first-year savings that supporters originally predicted, according to the nonpartisan, business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

Reform in Massachusetts added $353 million to the state budget, a “modest” 1 percent and well within expectations, said Gov. Deval Patrick and the nonpartisan Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

Michael Widmer of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation says it’s not a perfect idea, but something we should look into. “Given New England winters, next year we may budget $50 million for snow and ice and have a horrible winter and need $100 million.

The proposal’s strengths lie in its ability to “spread the pain,” said Michael Widmer, the president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. “The riders have been concerned, rightly so, about drastic service cuts,” he said. “The best part about this new proposal is that it preserves most of the services.”

“He’d certainly portrayed himself as a reformer,’’ said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-backed watchdog group. “So there was a real contradiction between what he had put forward and then the fact that he didn’t sign off on this very hard-earned reform.’’

Another dozen communities have used the new law as leverage to negotiate health plan concessions from local unions without actually adopting the reform, said Michael Widmer, president of the Taxpayers Foundation. "Unions in many cases were more open to making changes that they had opposed for years in order to avoid having the law implemented in their particular community," Widmer said.

O’Connell, who was Gov. Deval Patrick’s top economic development aide from 2007 to 2009, said his organization has met with A Better City, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation to discuss their concerns about fare hikes and service cuts proposed by the T to close an anticipated $161 million budget deficit.

But as we noted in 2007, his oft-touted cuts in wasteful programs and duplicate agencies made only a small dent in the deficit, according to an estimate by the independent, nonpartisan Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

“I broadly call that a middle-of-the-road, balanced approach,” said Michael Widmer, of the nonpartisan Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. “That’s the approach every governor--Republican, Democrat--and legislatures have taken. Which is: some balance between new revenues and spending cuts.”

We’ve been encouraged by the response from cities and towns to the municipal health care reforms enacted on Beacon Hill last year, reforms that are expected to exceed the $100 million in projected tax savings this year alone.

Let’s start with budgetary effects. Yes, the law has added costs to the state budget, but those cost haven’t been back-breaking. In 2009, the business-supported Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation said the statute had increased net state spending on health care by $350 million a year, which accounted for about 1.2 percent of the state budget.

As of Feb. 1, at least 53 communities have formally adopted the law, which is required in order to use the new negotiating rules enacted by the Legislature.

At the time, the government finance watchdogs at Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation estimated the reforms could save up to $100 million a year for cities, towns and school districts. An MTF analysis released this week indicates the savings will far exceed the earlier estimate.

The foundation said 21 cities and towns have already saved $60 million in health-insurance costs. "These huge savings will benefit everyone -- cities and towns, municipal employees and retirees, and taxpayers," foundation President Michael Widmer said in a statement released Wednesday.

The foundation, an independent fiscal watchdog group, says nine communities that have implemented the changes anticipate $30 million in combined first-year savings. Twelve others have been able save a combined $30 million by negotiating changes through collective bargaining.

And in a report released yesterday, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation said at least 91 communities have already taken advantage of the law to wrest savings that will exceed "by far" the initial estimate of $100 million.

“When you have plans that are as costly as the municipal plans have been, even making modest changes results in major savings,” the foundation’s Michael Widmer said. Widmer said the biggest savings have been in larger cities.

“In doing this, Brockton stands out and is clearly leaving” savings on the table, said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

“It is really striking how quickly this has grabbed hold,’’ says Michael Widmer, president of the foundation. “And these are just first-year savings, which will compound over time.’’

“It's consistent with our general sense of the slowly, very slowly, improving Massachusetts economy, and housing with it,” said Michael Widmer, president of the nonpartisan, business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

"This puts the pressure on the Legislature, because if you don't get the new savings and the new revenues, you'll have to cut more deeply than the governor has in this budget," said Michael Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

Springfield has $761.6 million in the unfunded liabilities, which translates to more than $12,000 in unfunded liabilities per single-family home; Holyoke would be on the hook for $300 million, which translates to a liability of more than $18,000 per single-family home. And eight other cities in the commonwealth are in similar straits.

“It sounds awfully high. It sounds like a fairly well-paying position,” said Andrew Bagley of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. “If there’s been no change, that’s a problem. If the governor has called them out, saying this is something you need to balance better and they haven’t, then that’s something that needs a closer look.”

RomneyCare is also not breaking the bank in Massachusetts, according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, an independent research group that many call the state’s version of the Congressional Budget Office. “There’s a lot of wild accusations that the law is breaking the bank in Massachusetts, and that is simply not the case,” said Michael Widmer, president of the Foundation.

“I think we will see some meaningful relief,” said Michael Widmer, head of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Association. “I’m hopeful that we’ll see some innovation as well. Employers are increasingly beginning to say ‘we need to be a part of the solution,’ and their employees as well.”

We reported on this a number of times in 2008, when Romney’s GOP primary opponents kept bringing it up. It’s true that the independent Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation put the total of increased fees and corporate taxes under Romney at $740 million to $750 million per year.

Mike Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Tax Payers Foundation, recognizes that the current economic climate makes it challenging to address all of the State's needs in the current budget.

But Beacon Hill lawmakers in the past have rejected similar tax proposals from the governor. And Michael Widmer of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation questioned whether they would accept them this time around. "Those tax proposals I think are reasonable but nonetheless this is an election year so there’s an open question on whether or not the legislature will approve them," he said.

Keenan pointed to numerous studies, including a 2009 review of MBTA finances by former John Hancock CEO David D'Allessandro, a 2007 Massachusetts Transportation Finance Commission study, and a 2002 Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation report entitled "MBTA Capital Spending: Derailed by Expansion," all of which conclude that expansion was not badly needed and the consequences would be severe.

Regarding Santorum’s criticisms of high health care costs and unreasonable waiting times in Massachusetts as a result of the health care plan enacted by Romney, the nonpartisan FactCheck.org has already found those claims shaky at best. Costs for the plan had initially increased more than expected, but have lately come in line with projections by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

Michael Widmer, President of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, described the governor's budget as "fiscally responsible" but said it was built on "question marks" about health care savings and initiatives that lawmakers are unlikely to support.

The new revenue: But since the tax cuts were relatively small, the revenue taxpayers saved was "vastly less" than the roughly $700 million in additional annual revenue the foundation estimates was raised because of other measures Romney signed, according to Michael Widmer, the foundation's president.

The foundation, a Boston-based independent, nonprofit organization that conducts research on state and local taxes, government spending, and the economy, says the liabilities are not some hypothetical obligation but represent actual amounts taxpayers owe in today’s dollars for retiree health-care benefits already earned by current retirees and eligible employees and payable during the next 30 ye

“It’s consistent with our general sense of the slowly, very slowly, improving Massachusetts economy, and housing with it,” said Michael Widmer, president of the nonpartisan, business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

“It’s going to be very tight,’’ said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. “There are going to be a number of places where there are budget cuts. “It’s better news than the last several years for sure, but it’s also a fifth consecutive year of budget squeeze,’’ he said.

A much lower estimate was issued by the nonpartisan Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, whichestimated that the law cost $707 million in fiscal 2010, with the state paying half of that and the federal government paying the rest.

"The job picture is much more sobering than it was six months ago, which will only place further pressure on the already strained state finances," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "As a result, we are seeing greater demand for state programs while experiencing slower revenue growth."

Michael Widmer, president of the independent Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, noted that lawmakers had previously rejected some of the governor’s revenue proposals and questioned whether they would be more willing to accept them this around.

This marks the second year in a row of increases in the number of municipalities that saw improvements or stabilization in home values. “It’s consistent with our general sense of the slowly, very slowly, improving Massachusetts economy, and housing with it,” said Michael Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

Michael Widmer, the president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation predicts state budget writers will find a way to boost local aid.

Speaking of “fixed” costs (see above) the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation is out with a truly frightening report on the threat posed to municipal budgets by the cost of providing health care to retirees.

The study, from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, shows that Brockton owes more per household than any of the ten cities analyzed. Brockton owes just under $700 million in health care benefits for current and future retirees over the next 30 years.