Telehealth anchors package of HW&M bills moving
Photo | Courtesy of Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Massachusetts State House
The House gave initial approval Monday to its version of a Senate-approved health care reform bill, one of seven pieces of legislation its Ways and Means Committee advanced to kick off the final week of formal lawmaking business.
Under the legislation, insurers would be required to cover telehealth services, and any deductible, copayment or co-insurance requirements could not exceed in-person rates. It also includes language designed to protect patients from out-of-network surprise bills.
The Senate approved its own version of a telehealth-focused bill last month incorporating responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, at the time triggering an intraparty feud with House Democratic leaders over the legislative process. The House version, which could emerge for a vote on Tuesday, is based on the Health Care Financing Committee's redraft of the Senate bill.
With a Friday deadline looming, lawmakers in both chambers are rushing to wrap up work on key issues they have not completed in the first 18 months of session.
The six other bills the House Ways and Means Committee started moving Monday cover land transfers in Newton, Chelsea and Tewksbury, solar power at the Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School, an agricultural preservation restriction in Plymouth, and a study of the noise created by Interstates 93 and 95 converging in Andover.
Committee leaders opened a poll of members just before 10:30 a.m. Monday, giving them until 11:15 a.m. to vote on whether to report each of the bills favorably.
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