Governor Baker released his long awaited health care bill. This closely mirrors the bill he filed last session.
The Governor’s office has said the bill is divided up into three major parts..
- Prioritizing Primary Care and Behavioral Health
- Managing Health Care Cost Drivers
- Improving Access to High-Quality Coordinated Care
Attached is a fact sheet on the bill. We did want to highlight that the bill establishes a default payment rate of reimbursement that carriers must pay to out-of-network providers for unforeseen OON services, effectively removing the patient from the payment dispute. The proposed default rate is consistent with EOHHS’ 2021 Out-Of-Network Recommended Rate Report and the “Qualifying Payment Amount” in the federal No Surprises Act.
The Governor said that there has been "a lot of back and forth" between his administration and top legislative leaders on the issues addressed in his bill, which makes him hopeful that something can get done before the end of the formal legislative session on July 31. We will closely monitor this and keep MSA members updated.
