“Health reform is delivering peace of mind to many”

Sen. Moore keynotes Nichols Health Policy Symposium

November 10, 2009 ... A key lawmaker, who was one of the state’s principal authors of the landmark Massachusetts Health Care Reform Law, said that if President Obama’s health reform effort is as successful as the state law on which it is largely modeled, it will give millions of Americans “peace of mind about the rising costs of health care and health insurance.” 

Sen. Richard T. Moore, D-Uxbridge, delivered his remarks during a major health policy address on Massachusetts Health Reform during a Fischer Institute Symposium at Nichols College this week. Sen. Moore, a Nichols College Trustee, is Senate Chairman of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, and Chairman of the Special Senate Committee on National health Reform in the Massachusetts Legislature.

In describing what he explained as “an innovative, comprehensive and long-term effort to reinvent health care delivery and payment,” Sen. Moore proclaimed that “Those who say the Massachusetts reform law was just about expanding access and not about cutting costs, don’t know what they’re talking about!” Many critical features in the plan now working its way through the U.S. Congress are based on the successful Massachusetts reform effort. A growing number of Bay State residents are pointing to the Massachusetts health reform law as a “life saver.”

Citing a recent study of Medicare recipients that compared those who had health insurance in the years prior to joining the Medicare program and those who were uninsured before becoming eligible for Medicare, Moore said, “The fact is that expanding health insurance coverage is better for the individual patient and better for our hard-working taxpayers.” The study, by the Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services (CMS) and reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine, claims data between 1996 and 2005 found that those who had been uninsured cost the taxpayers about $1,000 per person annually more than those who had health insurance and prior access to care.

The Senator also noted that getting virtually everyone insured—as Massachusetts law requires, and that the federal proposals would also require—reduces cost shifting that increases the insurance premiums of those who have insurance.

Sen. Moore listed a long series of other provisions of both the original Massachusetts health reform law (Chapter 58 of the Acts of 2006) and a subsequent quality and cost containment initiative (Chapter 305 of the Acts of 2008) that are helping to reduce the cost of health care.

“While it wasn’t easy, and required an extraordinary outreach effort, expanding access to provide health coverage to 97.3% of Massachusetts residents was achieved a lot faster than expected, and light years faster than implementing quality improvement and cost reductions,” Sen. Moore explained.

Among the cost containment measures, beyond expanded access, Moore cited:

• Increasing public health funding for prevention in illness and injury;
• Initiating a statewide health care acquired infection program to save lives and money;
• Establishing a Quality and Cost Council to implement health care quality improvement and cost containment goals to increase efficiency, reduce waste and duplication, and to lower health care costs;
• Creating a Health Care Disparities Council to ensure fairness in the delivery of care across the state;
• Limiting hospital rate increases linked to achievement of quality standards;
• Fighting the improper influence of drug company marketers on health care delivery;
• And making health care providers and insurance companies justify any increases in charges or premiums.

Sen. Moore said he “…supports common sense, step by step measures to hold down health costs without cutting out needed care or services,” adding, “It takes time to change the current culture of health care, but by holding providers and insurance companies accountable, I think we’ll succeed.”

On the federal health plan recently passed by the U.S. House of Representative and now awaiting action in the Senate, Moore said, “Many of the features in the federal proposals—an individual mandate to have health insurance, employer support for health insurance, an exchange to connect people to affordable and meaningful insurance products, requiring insurers to cover those with pre-existing conditions, et al. are all part of Massachusetts law today.”

The Senator did express some concerns that the federal government should not pass legislation that “punishes states like Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont and others that have made real progress in expanding access to care.” Moore explained that some of the versions proposed for national health reform might not assist the states that adopted reform and expanded coverage as much as states that failed to take positive action.

He noted that the National Conference of State Legislature, in which he serves as President-Elect, has been working closely with Congressional leaders to promote improvements in Medicaid and to protect states, like Massachusetts, that have led the way on health reform. “I am optimistic that the final federal bill will help all Americans to gain and maintain access to safe, high quality health care, as well as help the state and federal governments, private employers and individuals and their families to be able to afford health care well into the future,” he concluded.

Previous Page | Print this Document