Hyannis, Barnstable, Cape Cod Vacation

Hyannis Area Chamber of Commerce - Announcements

Health Care Information:

 

1. House Passes Small Business Health Care Bill
The Massachusetts House of Representatives has passed legislation designed to control health care costs for small businesses. The legislation requires carriers to submit rate filings to the Department of Insurance (DOI) at least ninety days before the effective date with sufficient detail so that the DOI may approve of the rates or disapprove if the rates are found inadequate, excessive or unreasonable in relation to the benefits provided. For a period of two years, if a carrier submits a rate filing requesting an increase over 150 percent of the prior calendar year's percentage increase in the consumer price index for medical care services, the rate will be presumptively disapproved. Furthermore, the bill authorizes the Division of Health Care Finance and Policy (DHCFP) to review contracts for medical services between insurers and hospitals, physician group practices and imaging service providers to determine if payment increases are appropriate.

 

The bill also allows the Commissioner of Insurance to address instances of rate fluctuation. The Commissioner is permitted to annually smooth rate adjustments to prevent drastic increases in rates for individuals and employers. In an effort to control costs by preventing consumers from  adding or dropping health coverage for isolated cases, the bill limits open enrollment for health plans to twice annually in 2011, once in 2012 and once per year thereafter.

 

In certain cases, however, the measure permits the Office of Patient Protection to grant open enrollment waivers to allow individuals to purchase insurance outside the open enrollment periods. To help lower costs for consumers, the legislation allows patients access to prescription drug discounts. The bill also establishes a Disproportionate Share Hospital Trust Fund to aid hospitals that serve a significant number of patients who are uninsured or insured through Medicaid. The legislation authorizes the DHCFP to assess fifty percent of the savings in provider rates of reimbursement for deposit in the Trust Fund. The remaining fifty percent of the savings in provider rates of reimbursement will be incorporated in premium savings to employers. In order to maintain a focus on health care issues facing small businesses going forward, the bill increases small business representation on the Health Care Quality and Cost Council by adding a representative from a business with fewer than 50 employees. The Council is required to develop annual cost containment goals to promote affordable, high quality, patient-centered health care.

 

2. House Approves Economic Development Bill
The Massachusetts House of Representatives passed an economic development in a vote of 145 to 4 early this month. The bill limits the scope of combined tax reporting, creates a 3 percent capital gains tax rate for individual investors in Massachusetts-based start-ups, and provides all industries with the ability to extend a net operating-loss from five to 20 years. The bill also does away with the so-called "gift ban" that regulates interactions among physicians, and pharmaceutical and medical-device companies. At the same time, House members did not include several provisions that were counterproductive to economic growth, including changes to the law governing non-compete agreements in Massachusetts and a proposal to allow association health plans.

 

House members declined to include proposals to reform the Unemployment Insurance system and to shift the Massachusetts Workforce Training Fund into a trust that would remove the program from the uncertainties of yearly budget deliberations. The House also voted to suspend the sales tax during the weekend of Aug. 14-15 in a bid to boost retail sales.  A legislative conference committee must now reconcile elements of the House Economic Development bill to the version passed by the state Senate in April.

 
3. Senate Adopts Municipal Relief Bill
The Massachusetts Senate voted 32-6 on Thursday to adopt legislation touted by supporters as delivering "municipal relief" to cities and towns throughout the Commonwealth. Simply put, the bill gives cities and towns an extra ten years to pay down unfunded pension liabilities, freeing up money for delivery of basic services, and also allows longer municipal leaders. Essentially this bill will empower city and town leaders to extend their pension schedules, implement early retirement programs and lend money to families and businesses for energy efficiency projects.ManyDemocrats claim the bill would help municipal officials cope with a 4 percent local aid cut they were hit with in the fiscal year that began last week.
 
The House approved the bill on Wednesday with lawmakers voting directly along party lines, the House's 15 Republicans united against the bill, citing the lack of provisions dealing with health care costs.
 
4. Massachusetts Ranks 31st in Taxes in FY 2008
The amount of state and local taxes paid in Massachusetts as a share of state personal income remained well below the U.S. average in Fiscal Year 2008, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's newly updated survey of State and Local Government Finances. In Massachusetts, combined state and local taxes equaled 10.3 percent of state personal income in FY 2008, compared to the national average of 10.9 percent, the new data shows.
 

Measuring taxes as a share of total personal income allows for a meaningful comparison among states. The newly released numbers (the most recent nationwide data available) show that in FY 2008 the share of income paid in taxes for state and local public services was less in Massachusetts than in 30 other states.

A Mass Budget fact sheet analyzing the new Census data is available at www.massbudget.org.

  
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