Union pushes for health care payment referendum
Health care payments and politics, always a hot topic on Beacon Hill, may become the fodder for the 2016 ballot.
Health care workers announced Wednesday they're filing initiative petition language aimed at requiring private health insurers to negotiate new contracts with hospitals "to bring fairness to health care prices" by banning providers and insurers from entering into contracts after July 1, 2016 that would pay hospitals more than 20 percent above the average amount paid to similar providers for the same services.
1199SEIU Healthcare Workers East is leading the campaign, which targets payments to certain hospitals and academic medical centers in an attempt to direct savings to community hospitals. A second version of the initiative petition includes large doctor groups and phases in the changes.
The two ballot initiatives are designed to lead to an estimated $267 million in cost reductions for consumers and employers, according to the union. The campaign's proposal is based on legislation sponsored by Sen. Benjamin Downing that supporters say will address "egregious price disparities" that remain in place despite a 2012 law aimed at controlling health care cost increases.
Ballot law proponents face significant signature-gathering hurdles to reach the ballot. Initiative petitions are often used to pressure lawmakers to advance bills through the House and Senate.
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