ACT!! Legislative Briefing Report

Over 80 staffers, senators, and representatives attended today’s legislative briefing hosted by the ACT!! Coalition at the State House. The briefing was hosted by the chairs of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, Representative Patricia Walrath and Senator Richard Moore. Senator Moore opened by warning staffers of the many calls they should expect from constituents on the issue of health care reform, and especially the individual mandate over the next few months. He hoped today’s meeting would clarify those issues.

HCFA’s Lindsey Tucker took the floor from Senator Moore and provided a 10-15 minute overview of health reform, which covered the expansion of MassHealth, the creation of the Connector, Commonwealth Care, Commonwealth Choice, and the shared responsibility for reform between the government, employers, and individuals.

Next, HFCA’s Jennifer Chow provided the audience with updates on health reform implementation. She reported that since the establishment of Commonwealth Care (in October 2006) and Commonwealth Choice (in May 2007) over 110,000 and 15,000 individuals have been enrolled, respectively. Jennifer also gave a more detailed analysis of the individual mandate, and how staffers could assist constituents to determine if they must purchase insurance to avoid being penalized.

Representative John Scibak briefly spoke about his bill, An Act Strengthening Health Reform (S.661, H.1166), which he sponsored with the support of the ACT!! Coalition. It addresses issues of affordability and access through a number of adjustments to Chapter 58 including:
• Raising the minimum employer coverage to require 50% employer contribution and 50% employee participation;
• Redefining “affordability” for the individual mandate to include premium and out of pocket costs

The session concluded with an extensive question and answer session, in which Lindsey, Jennifer, and Senator Moore attempted to eliminate confusion and assuage apprehension among staffers. A number of questions revolved around employer responsibility and the Fair Share Contribution requirement that employers who do not offer reasonable coverage pay $295 per worker annually. One staffer asked whether this would really encourage employers to purchase coverage, or if they would merely consider the penalty more affordable. Senator Moore suggested that the business community would risk losing employees by not providing insurance, but noted that the legislature was prohibited by federal ERISA law from requiring any employer to provide insurance.
Sarah Snyder