Rosenberg: Trumpcare would force Mass. tax changes
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Senate President Stanley Rosenberg said Trumpcare as it is now would force Massachusetts to revisit its tax system.
While Obamacare included provisions that "compromised" the state's own 2006 universal health care access law, a Trumpcare law based on the bill that cleared the U.S. House last week would force Massachusetts to revisit its tax system, according to Senate President Stanley Rosenberg.
"First, we're going to count on the U.S. Senate to do the right thing and make sure that if a plan moves forward it's rational, reasonable and doesn't gut the budgets and the programs in the various states," Rosenberg told Jon Keller during an interview that aired Sunday morning on WBZ-TV. "But it's a huge hit to Massachusetts because as you remember we had a universal care plan before the federal government did theirs. They made a series of changes which compromised our plan. We had to adapt because it was federal law. So we're just barely holding on . . . "
Estimating health care costs as consuming 42 percent of the state budget, Rosenberg said passage of a federal law based on the U.S. House bill would pit the state's budget-balancing needs against the health care needs of individuals and the "robust" Massachusetts health care system that is an economic anchor.
Gov. Charlie Baker has estimated a previous version of the U.S. House health care bill could lead to as much as $2 billion less in federal health care aid to Massachusetts. State lawmakers are weighing a surtax on incomes above $1 million to generate $1.6 billion to $2.2 billion a year in new revenues.
As the health care debate shifts to the U.S. Senate, Sen. Edward Markey plans a 10:30 a.m. press conference in Boston.
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