THE STATE’S effort to bring health costs under control entered a new round yesterday with Governor Patrick’s introduction of legislation to strengthen the state’s authority to deny insurance premium increases. The bill would also pave the way for new payment systems, aimed at removing built-in incentives for unnecessary procedures and office visits. Finally, the bill would steer the system of medical malpractice toward apologies and prompt resolutions and away from exhausting and expensive legal battles. Overall, Patrick deserves credit: The package represents solid progress toward pushing cost drivers out of the existing system.
If the state does not act now, rising health costs will suffocate economic growth. A study last year found that, at the current rate of increase, health spending will consume a third of median family income in Massachusetts by 2016 — just five years from now. Left unchecked, this increase will be as damaging to budgets of towns and cities and the state as it is to the security of families.
Stopping short of directly regulating hospital and doctor rates, Patrick’s bill would authorize his insurance commissioner to reject an insurer’s premium hike if the underlying rates to be paid to hospitals or to physician groups are deemed to be excessive. The commissioner could compare a hospital’s rate hike to the increase in state gross domestic product and the rates paid to other hospitals in the insurer’s network.
These are early steps in an overdue campaign to make Massachusetts a national leader in health-cost control, as it already is in providing near-universal coverage. Since health care makes up almost a fifth of the state’s economy, the steps have to be carefully staged and are necessarily incremental. But they offer the promise of care that is not only more affordable but also better coordinated.
