Publications: Health Care

The cities and towns of Massachusetts are facing a relentless fiscal squeeze in which year after year costs are growing faster than revenues for almost all communities.

MTF urges the administration to withdraw proposed changes to the fair share formula - the changes ignore the enormous contributions of employers and threaten the future of health care reform by upsetting the balance of shared responsibility.

On behalf of a broad group of business organizations and health plans committed to ensuring access to quality and affordable health care in the Commonwealth, we are writing to express our strong opposition to the provisions imposing new assessments and taxes to fund the state's Health Care Reform Law.

Massachusetts employers will spend an estimated $175 million a year for additional employee coverage under the state's health care reform law, according to a report released by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. The report analyzes the broad scope of employer participation that is critical to the success of Massachusetts health care reform.

Cities and towns across the Commonwealth can save as much as $750 million in 2013 and $2.5 billion in 2018 by taking advantage of a new law that allows them to join the Group Insurance Commission (GIC), the state agency which administers health insurance for state employees, according to a joint report by the Foundation and the Boston Municipal Research Bureau.

"In recent testimony (August 8) before the Division of Health Care Finance and Policy, MTF President Michael J. Widmer said that the proposed regulation issued by the Division fairly reflects the compromise agreement reached by the legislative leadership on the purpose of the fair share assessment under health care reform. Mr.

In a new analysis of proposals by the Governor, House and Senate to expand health care access for the uninsured, the Foundation concludes that the House's plan to impose a new payroll tax would raise virtually no new revenues. The report makes a number of specific recommendations for ensuring a successful reform effort.

Health insurance costs for municipal employees in Massachusetts have skyrocketed by 63 percent between 2001 and 2005, according to a new Foundation report. This growth is more than four times greater than the rate of growth in local budgets and almost double the rate of annual increase in the state's cost of providing health benefits to its employees.

Legislative proposals to expand the legal liability of HMOs would cost Massachusetts employers and taxpayers between $138 million and $568 million annually, according to a new Foundation report.

With the state struggling to pay the cost of its current health care programs, the Foundation called on the Legislature to dedicate any new revenues from the proposed 50-cent increase in the tobacco tax to meet the Commonwealth's long list of underfunded health care obligations before further expanding the Medicaid rolls.