Lawmakers in the House and Senate are often at odds over which legislation to pass into law, but when it comes to health care costs here in Massachusetts, there could be some common ground. Mike Deehan, GBH State House reporter, joined host Henry Santoro on Morning Edition to discuss what, if anything, Beacon Hill can get done this year to lower the cost of health care. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Henry Santoro: We know there are several proposals from the Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Ron Mariano about health care. Are they on the same page? And will anything get done?
Mike Deehan: They aren't on the same page page for much of anything, the House and the Senate. But they actually do agree on a big, big thing when it comes to health care, and that's the cost of it. Both of them have expressed a desire to lower the cost. It's really been a mission of Ron Mariano's for years now. Health care cost has been one of his main things. Spilka also has a lot of priorities in that area. So that big area of cost is going to where they're going, but they have very different ideas on how to get there, and what cost to focus on.
The Senate's going to pass a bill on Thursday that will try to control the growing cost of prescription drugs. Right out of the gate, that bill would cap co-pays for insulin at $25 for a month's supply — 21 other states have done that. That's something pretty concrete that the state can do to help diabetics and others who need insulin. It would also require notification to the state of significant price hikes. So if a pharmaceutical company does raise their price an awful lot, the state would at least be informed of that. They would also have greater oversight over the pharmaceutical companies — many of which are headquartered here — kind of bringing them into these annual hearings that they have with the Health Policy Commission, which is the state's kind of uber watchdog on price controls. The state can't really control too many prices, but they can bring them before their hearings and make the leaders of these companies testify as to why they've raised the fees here.
And it would do some other things. It would really give teeth to that Health Policy Commission. Again, really to find companies that don't comply with that oversight process. So it is really trying to get the state a little bit more involved.
Santoro: You know, as well as I know, that lawmakers on the Hill, they really don't like taking giant steps. They're all about taking baby steps now. You said the Senate will pass this thing on Thursday. Are you sure?
Deehan: Yeah. I mean, almost anything that ever gets to the floor of the House or Senate is preapproved. Sometimes there are amendment votes that can be very tricky and kind of up in the air, but the bill itself is going to pass. They wouldn't let it go to a vote without that. And I also know because in 2019, they passed an almost identical bill unanimously out of the Senate. That passed with all senators — Republicans and Democrats — in favor, and then the House ignored it. So that's where we are now.
Santoro: So the House isn't as enthusiastic about the Senate's bill as since it didn't become law in 2019. If not, so if not prescription drugs. What are the House's priorities?
Deehan: So Mariano is really focused on keeping smaller community hospitals alive. The state's large, dominant hospital chains — Mass General Brigham and such — they're expanding into outpatient care, into the suburbs, into the territory that's traditionally been these community hospitals. Mariano and the House passed a bill that would again empower that Health Policy Commission to take charge against that, to approve these expansion plans or deny them. And we actually saw the HPC put out kind of a thumbs down on Mass General's expansion plans just last month.
His health care goals, Mariano's, are very different from the Senate's, but that's almost encouraging because it means that they will have a lot of ideas the kind of cram into a big omnibus bill should they choose to go down that route. There's also a lot of Senate priorities around behavioral health. So it seems like things could be coming together.
Santoro: Health care, as everybody knows, prices are through the roof. What can this state do for containing those costs?
Deehan: Yeah. Well, and it really is things like this that really is the mission of that Health Policy Commission. So health care costs between 2018 and 2019 grew at 4.3%. The state wants it at 3.1%. We've had trouble every year hitting that benchmark. It's always creeping up, more and more and more. COVID in 2020-2021 is probably going to really skew the numbers there. But, you know, it's about access and affordability and ramping up the supply of this care. So that is what all three of them want to do, but they are just taking different paths to get there. Maybe one will prevail, or maybe, like I said, there'll be a big, big bill that will kind of do everything.
Santoro: Well, two words for you, me and everybody listening, Mike, stay healthy.
Deehan: Absolutely.
Santoro: State House reporter Mike Deehan, thank you so much, my friend. Great to see you.
