Healthcare Reform
02/22/2006
Massachusetts’ based employers will be learning more about the Commonwealth’s efforts to introduce some type of Healthcare Reform. Beacon Hill’s goal is to reduce the number of uninsured residents, which currently is estimated at 11.5% of Massachusetts’s residents. Without some type of reform the Commonwealth is at risk of losing Federal funds that currently support the Mass Health/Medicaid program for low income and disabled residents. The House of Representatives has introduced a bill, which assesses a payroll tax in the range of 5-7% for any employer not providing health insurance to employees if passed. The bill in turn assumes that the increased revenues are sufficient to cover the cost of care currently provided to the uninsured. It also assumes employers will save in aggregate between $128 million and $145 million through the repeal of the current insurance surcharge of 3.5%, which funds the Uncompensated Care Pool. Much debate will continue on through the early part of 2006. We will keep our clients abreast of the developments from Beacon Hill.
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