"Partners offers $40m to ease rates; Part of Murray bid to cut premiums; Providers asked to donate $100m" by Kay Lazar and Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff | April 14, 2010
Partners HealthCare, whose Boston teaching hospitals have been blamed for helping to drive up medical spending, is offering $40 million toward reducing double-digit health insurance rate increases for small businesses, part of a broader package that will be unveiled today by Senate President Therese Murray.
Murray will tell business leaders this morning that her plan, offered amid the Patrick administration’s legal battle to cap insurers’ rate hikes, could immediately reduce premiums paid by small employers by 10 to 15 percent, if approved by the Legislature. The bill would give insurers an option: Peg premium increases to the inflation rate for medical spending or reduce administrative costs and profits. The bill will be filed within a month and be voted on by the Senate soon after, Murray pledged in an interview yesterday.
She said she is asking providers to contribute $100 million this year as part of her plan, which would reduce health insurance premiums for small businesses by about 2.5 percent.
It's called begging, and it tells you who is really in charge in this state.
Why not just raise their taxes like they do us?
The Massachusetts Model: Tax-Exempt Memory Hole
Oh, they DON'T PAY TAXES, huh?
But the DO MAKE PROFIT!
That's why this guy can kick in $40 million!
The Partners president, Dr. Gary Gottlieb, approached Murray last week, she said, and offered to contribute the $40 million. “I have made it very clear there needs to be a shared sacrifice for all the stakeholders,’’ Murray said. “Partners . . . wanted to be part of the solution, and Gary [Gottlieb] really stepped up here. It came from him, and it was a big surprise and it was certainly welcome. If one provider steps up to the plate . . . perhaps others will too.’’
Just reading this stuff from these people is making me sick.
She said the money will be given to health insurers, which would then be required to distribute it to small businesses to provide premium relief. The Division of Insurance will oversee the process....
Oh, my God!
Yeah, LET'S GIVE THEM MORE PILES of MONEY to PLAY WITH!!!!
Related: The Massachusetts Model: Senate Calls For Cap on Health Costs
Also see: Memory Hole: Why the Nation Doesn't Need Massachusetts Health Care
Yup, that is your partner in health care.
Of course, the reaction by the rest is buried in the business section, page B9:
"Hospital executives cool to call for $100m; Not all will follow move to rein in insurance costs" by Liz Kowalczyk and Robert Weisman, Globe Staff | April 15, 2010
Massachusetts hospital executives are reviewing Senate President Therese Murray’s call for providers to contribute $100 million to help reduce soaring health care costs paid by small businesses, but they made no commitment to follow the lead of Partners HealthCare, which has pledged $40 million this year.
Dr. Gary Gottlieb, president of Partners, whose Boston teaching hospitals have been blamed for helping to drive up medical spending, said yesterday that the organization decided to make the one-time commitment because it “wanted people to understand that we wanted to become part of the solution.’’
And we don't want them getting to angry over the outrageous overcharging.
Gottlieb said he suggested to Murray last week that Partners donate the $40 million, because she was searching for solutions that involve hospitals as she finalized legislative proposals to help small businesses.
He said the money will come out of Partners’ operating budget and could force it to delay some long-term projects. Its hospitals include Brigham and Women’s and Massachusetts General.
Gottlieb said Partners, which is among a select group of providers paid far higher rates than their competitors, did not simply lower rates by $40 million because that could not be easily targeted to help small businesses and would extend beyond temporary help.
That's like a temporary cure, huh?
He said he does not see Partners’ offer as a “game-changer of any kind,’’ but a way to help get past the immediate crisis so the state can adopt thoughtful long-term solutions.
Yeah, thanks, you price-gouging, profiteering PoS.
The money will go to insurers, which will distribute it to businesses, under state regulators’ supervision.
And how much of that is going to disappear before it reaches business?
Partners has said its higher rates are justified by the complexity of the care its hospitals provide.
Yeah, whatever. We have stopped listening to liars.
Other hospital executives were cautious about following Partners....
What if Senate President Murray says please?
