Today's Globe: health bill funding, Mass. lessons, Boston EMS chief, seniors' drug cuts, Genzyme patients, flu vaccine, Shriners cuts, Lynn union vote

House and Senate Democrats appeared yesterday to be on a collision course over how to pay for a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s healthcare system, with the House planning to propose an income tax increase on the wealthiest Americans, an idea that Senate negotiators have all but dismissed as unworkable.

A fear that employers will drop private coverage and dump their workers onto federally subsidized health plans is a major concern among lawmakers crafting healthcare legislation on Capitol Hill, leading House Democrats to propose stiff financial penalties for businesses that don’t contribute to employee premiums. But the experience with the healthcare overhaul in Massachusetts suggests those worries may be overblown.

Richard A. Serino, the unassuming Dorchester native who climbed the ranks from Codman Hill to the head of Boston Emergency Medical Services over the past 36 years, has been chosen by President Obama to assume the number two post at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

About 44,000 Bay State seniors lost coverage because of cuts made to the Prescription Advantage program in October last year, when funding was cut from $57 million to $50 million. To protest the cuts, about 30 other members of the Massachusetts Senior Action Council, a statewide advocacy group, stood on all four corners of the busy intersection of Columbia Road and Blue Hill Avenue in Dorchester yesterday.

A nearly monthlong halt in the production of two Genzyme drugs that treat rare genetic disorders has not yet caused significant hardship for those who depend on the treatments, according to patients and advocates.

The Obama administration said yesterday that it has billions of dollars available to help pay for a national H1N1 flu vaccine program that could be ready starting in mid-October.

The Shriners will continue treating children in all 22 cities where they operate hospitals, but some of the facilities may be downgraded to outpatient surgical centers and the sale or lease of real estate will be explored, the nonprofit’s new chief executive said yesterday.

More than 400 healthcare workers at Union Hospital in Lynn have voted to join Service Employees International Union, Local 1199.