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Legislative Leaders Break Bread and Impasse

March 9, 2006

Dining with their wives last week, Senate President Robert Travaglini and House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi broke the impasse that was holding up healthcare reform legislation. “We were scolded rather severely last evening at a dinner that was scheduled well in advance of this conversation,” Travaglini said, “and we just followed our instructions.” (This once again proves that you may be the boss at work but not in command at home.)

Conference committee members are negotiating again and are expected to come up with a plan within a few weeks. At the center of the compromise are an assessment of roughly $295 per employee on businesses that do not offer insurance and an individual mandate requiring folks to carry insurance. Preliminary estimates peg the assessment revenue at between $40M and $50M Leaders say that conferees must adhere to a framework that they have agreed on but did not delve into the key details such as how many would be covered, who will pay and where will the money come from.

Romney said that while he is 'happy' the discussion of a payroll tax on businesses has changed, he declined to predict whether he would support the new plan. "In one case it will feel like a tax, in another case it’s an assessment to establish a program of some kind. It depends on how it works, who it’s applied to, for what type of action or inaction. And that hasn’t been made clear yet by the Legislature, so until it is, I really can’t comment on it."

As reported by the State House News Service, Rabbi Jonah Pesner of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization commented. “We’re so glad that God and the people of Massachusetts have inspired the speaker and the Senate president to come back together and work on real health care reform,” Pesner said in a telephone interview, “and now the devil is in the details.”

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Legislative Leaders Break Bread and Impasse

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