Somerville Legislators Support Landmark Legislation That Makes Health Care More Affordable and More Accessible

[Boston]  On Tuesday, April 4, 2006, the Massachusetts Legislature overwhelmingly voted in support of health care legislation that aims to cover 95% of the state’s population within three years.    Every member of the Somerville Legislative Delegation supported the legislation that will cover the uninsured by expanding access to Medicaid, establishing a new program that will create more affordable plans for individuals and businesses, and requiring all residents to buy or retain health insurance coverage by July 1, 2007 as long as affordable coverage is available.  Under the plan, businesses will be required to offer their employees coverage or pay a $295 assessment to the state for each uninsured employee.

“Massachusetts has seized the opportunity to make the goal of achieving health care coverage for all citizens a reality. Passage of this legislation represents a historic step toward our shared vision to make health care more affordable and accessible for the people of Massachusetts,” stated Senator Jehlen.  

“"No one in our state should go without access to quality, affordable health care," said Senator Barrios.  "The new plan created by the Legislature is based on the principle of shared responsibility with businesses, government and individuals all playing a role in moving toward universal health care access in Massachusetts."

“Health care will now be a reality for nearly every resident in the Commonwealth. In addition to expanding quality coverage to over 500,000 uninsured residents in the state we also protected hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding by passing the health care reform legislation,” stated Representative Toomey.

“The Legislature, our delegation, and I are proud to have seized this historic opportunity to overhaul a broken system and deliver affordable, quality coverage to nearly all of the state’s uninsured residents over the next three years,” stated Representative Sciortino.

Major provisions of the legislation include:

• Individual Mandate: Holding true to a long tradition of Massachusetts “firsts,” the bill creates a first-in-the-nation individual mandate to require all residents who can afford it to purchase health insurance.
• Employer Responsibility: The legislation creates a new Fair Share Contribution by requiring all businesses to contribute toward employee health insurance costs.  This provision levels the playing field to ensure that employers who provide insurance no longer pay twice: once for their own employees and again for their competitors’ employees.
• New State Subsidies: The bill establishes new state subsidies for individuals with incomes less than 300% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL).  Adults with incomes up to 100% FPL ($9,700) will be eligible for coverage without premiums.
• MassHealth Expansion: The legislation expands the Commonwealth’s MassHealth program to include children from families up to 300% of FPL ($48,000 for a family of three)In addition, it restores all previously cut benefits, including dental and vision services, chiropractic and prosthetics, and creates a smoking cessation pilot program for Masshealth enrollees.
• Fair Reimbursement Rates: The bill calls for long overdue increases in reimbursement rates to hospitals, physicians, and community health centers for treating the Commonwealth’s MassHealth patients.  These increases are tied to quality and other performance measures.

"The Legislature feels strongly that everyone should be part of this solution," said Representative Provost.  "I am confident that the political will exists to work on our health care system for as long as it takes to make it work for all people and all businesses in the Commonwealth. We went on record in support of shared responsibility to ensure that government, individuals and businesses are all working towards a common goal of increasing access to affordable, quality health care for the people of Massachusetts."

Once implemented, the consensus plan will be a national model.  “Massachusetts once again leads the nation with an innovative plan that will achieve our longstanding goal of expanding health care for all,” said United States Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Massachusetts).  “We could not have achieved today’s landmark agreement without the strong leadership of Senate President Travaglini and House Speaker DiMasi. Their skill in crafting this legislation and their dedication to seeing it through have been extraordinary.  I’m optimistic that it will quickly be signed into law and I’ll continue to fight to keep the federal dollars that will be critical in enabling this plan to become a reality.”

###

The Jarrett Barrios Website is privately paid for and authorized by
The Barrios Committee, Daniel Schlozman, Treasurer
PO Box 391254, Cambridge, MA 02139 (617) 661-1805
Problems? Contact webmaster@senatorbarrios.org

Text portions, photographs, graphics, and source code © 2002-2005, The Barrios Committee. All rights reserved.
Click here for our full Privacy/Copyright/Linking Policy.