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| METROWEST DAILY NEWS June 9, 2005 |
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Legislators gets a shot at expanding health care By Emelie Rutherford / Daily News Staff BOSTON -- Proposals to expand health care to the state's approximately 500,000 uninsured residents -- including a plan posed by two MetroWest lawmakers -- were touted at a State House hearing that at times resembled a pep rally yesterday. Gov. Mitt Romney and Senate President Robert Travaglini each testified in favor of their health care reform plans that also would lessen the rising cost of caring for the uninsured. This eats up more than $1 billion in tax dollars each year. Loud cheers erupted from the overflow auditorium when health and religious leaders introduced the so-called Health Access and Affordability Act, spelled out in bills filed by state Rep. Deborah Blumer, D-Framingham, and state Sen. Richard Moore, D-Uxbridge. "The support is deep across the commonwealth to fix our health care system," said John McDonough, executive director of Health Care for All. Hundreds of people in T-shirts declaring "ACT! for our health" cheered behind him. The three proposals aired yesterday before the joint Health Care Financing Committee have similar goals, including spurring insurers to create more affordable insurance options and expanding the state's Medicaid program. The Health Access and Affordability Act, backed by the Affordable Care Today! (ACT) Campaign, would increase cigarette taxes by 50 cents per pack to help establish universal health coverage. The plan would expand eligibility for MassHealth coverage for the poor and help some working people pay their insurance premiums. "We want to underscore the shared goals of stabilizing and improving our health care systems for all residents of the commonwealth," Blumer said. Romney's plan to provide universal health coverage in state by 2009 calls for regulatory reforms to allow insurance companies to sell plans directly to individuals at a cost of less than $200 annually. "It levels the playing field for individuals and for small businesses so they can get the same benefits an employer does when buying insurance," Romney said. Travaglini's plan to cut the number of uninsured in Massachusetts in half in two years calls for spending more state funds to increase coverage and thus minimize long-term costs. One such investment, he said, would raise Medicaid reimbursement rates to health care providers to encourage them to treat more low-income Medicaid patients and the uninsured. While Travaglini's plan and the Health Access and Affordability Act would require businesses that do not offer health benefits to pay fees or assessments to the state, Romney's plan has no such mandate on employers. Michael Mazloff, executive director of Health Awareness Services in Worcester, said in an interview that this aspect of Romney's plan concerns him. "I think trying to rely on voluntary action would not work," said Mazloff, whose agency provides health and social services in MetroWest. Speakers including Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, yesterday cautioned against raising taxes and increasing employer mandates too fast. "How can we do this without raising taxes, having to find other sources of revenue," state Sen. Susan Fargo, D-Lincoln, a member of the Health Care Financing Committee, asked rhetorically. Geri Chimera, coordinator of the MetroWest Community Health Care Coalition, said people she knows would support raising taxes to expand health care. "Improving access to health care is an ongoing process that involves collaboration among government at all levels, the private sector, and the people of Massachusetts as a whole," said Moore, Senate chairman of the Health Care Financing Committee. |
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