Health in the House | Health and Fitness

The health care reform bill set for debate in the House today could be made substantially better simply by spiking the heavy-handed mandates that would give state government an unprecedented role in the health care system.

But this is Massachusetts.

More specifically, it?s Beacon Hill, where most of the efforts to improve the legislation by shortening the state?s reach will likely end up on the floor of the House chamber.

For example, Republican lawmakers (joined by a few Democrats) have proposed eliminating the proposed surcharge on costlier health care providers, which milks them for $70 million as part of the effort to reduce costs. It doesn?t compute, of course, but it certainly satisfies the Legislature?s twin desires ? for more funds to finance their bureaucratic dreams, and to punish more expensive providers. That amendment should pass.

Another worthwhile amendment would kill the requirement in the House bill that health care systems with more than one facility negotiate each insurance contract separately. In practical terms, that ?firewall? means larger health care systems would be forced to maintain separate contract offices with separate personnel at each hospital ? again, part of this grand scheme to bring costs down.

The House should also approve the amendment that would block new mandated benefits until the state can prove that costs within the system have fallen (the point of this whole exercise, after all). So memo to Rep. Sarah Peake (D-Provincetown): Your ?acupuncture-for-all? amendment really misses the point.

And of course it wouldn?t be a health-related bill if there weren?t yet another effort to revive the soda tax that is so beloved by Gov. Deval Patrick, and which we are assured will cure the obesity epidemic.

Yes, the 275 amendments set for debate today range from the truly important and meaningful to the astonishingly silly.

And it remains our strong belief that the health care bill approved last month by the Senate offers the better, more even-handed approach to dialing down medical costs in the commonwealth without putting state bureaucrats in charge of our health care.

But if House lawmakers are serious about helping to reduce costs, and not just expanding the power of the state, there is no shortage of opportunities for them to move in that direction.

Article source: http://bostonherald.com/news/opinion/editorials/view/20220605health_in_the_house

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