ACTION ALERT!
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SB 2260 - An Act improving the quality of health care and reducing costs through increased transparency, efficiency and innovation
Today, Tuesday, May 15, the Senate will begin debating 265 amendments to SB 2260: An Act improving the quality of health care and reducing costs through increased transparency, efficiency and innovation.
This comprehensive Senate bill designed to reduce the cost of health care includes the following element:
- The replacement of the Division of Health Care Finance and Policy with a new independent Institute of Health Care Finance and Policy.
Senator Eldridge has proposed an amendment (#125) that will position Massachusetts to move to a single-payer model of universal health care as early as 2015. This amendment will:
- Require the Institute of Health Finance and Policy to regularly compare the cost of a single-payer system (the "single-payer benchmark") and the "health care cost growth benchmark" as set forth in the bill.
- Single-payer benchmark is defined as the cost in total health care expenditures of providing continuous, high-quality, publicly-financed health coverage for all Massachusetts residents in a manner regardless of income, assets, health status, or availability of other health coverage.
- If the Institute determines at the outset of state fiscal year 2015 (or any fiscal year thereafter) that the single-payer health care benchmark has outperformed the "health care cost growth benchmark," a process of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services implementing a single payer health care system in Massachusetts will be triggered.
The LWVMA has long supported the establishment of a single-payer health care system. This amendment will help in demonstrating the benefits of a single-payer system.
Please contact your local Senators and urge their support of this very important amendment to SB 2260. Click here to find your Senators and their contact information.
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