The Massachusetts House of Representatives, in three long
days of debate, reviewed 882 floor amendments and sent its version of the
budget on to the Senate.Overall, the House budget seems to fund MassHealth and
public health programs in a way that will allow continued access to care. The
House added $105 million to MassHealth Senior Care and Managed Care line items.
Increases were also provided for HIV services.
The MMS succeeded in addressing a major improvement to last
year’s law on apology in professional liability, when the House adopted an amendment
offered by the MMS to ensure that payments made through the new Disclosure,
Apology and Offer (DA&O) program would not be reportable on physician
profiles or to the National Practitioner Data Bank, absent a finding of fault
by a physician.
Included
in consolidated health and human services amendments were the following
initiatives: three separate initiatives bringing over $4 million in additional
funding for substance abuse services; $1 million added to the DPH health
promotion and disease prevention line item; the establishment of an Elder
Protective Services Commission and an LGBT Commission on Aging; doubling of a
youth violence prevention fund, and additional funds for the Office of Health
Equality.
In a major issue this session, mental
health and substance abuse parity, the House called upon the Division of
Insurance to hold insurers more accountable for meeting state and federal
parity requirements. The House also provided $72 million for dental services in
MassHealth.
The House also prohibited the packaging of any marijuana
product for dispensing or sale to resemble any product available for
consumption as a commercially available candy, on the grounds that it would be attractive
to children.
Tobacco control advocates had sought to double the existing $4
million appropriation for the DPH, but they were not successful. However, during
the transportation financing bill debate last week, the cigarette excise tax was raised by one dollar. The cigarette tax
language is included in both the House and Senate transportation bills, now in
conference committee, and is supported by the Governor, thus ensuring its
passage into law.
The budget now moves to the Senate. Final
adoption of a state budget for Fiscal 2014 is anticipated in late June.
