State House foils amendment to ease Rx requirement

June 13, 2008

The state House rejected an attempt to ease the requirement that all adults obtain health insurance that includes prescription drug coverage.

Rep. Frank Hynes, D-Marshfield, pushed for an amendment to the fiscal 2009 budget allowing the Connector Authority’s board, charged with implementing the state’s health care reform law, to offer at least one health insurance plan without prescription coverage.

The Connector’s board voted last year to make Massachusetts the first state to mandate the drug coverage, unless individuals receive waivers or have other types of insurance. The mandate goes into effect in January 2009. Hynes argued that the mandate would add over 10 percent to the costs of plans, rendering them unaffordable.

House Republicans sided with Hynes, noting that they had heard from constituents about the expensive nature of the coverage of prescription drugs.

But supporters of the mandate, including Rep. Patricia Walrath, D-Stow, one of the architects of the health care law, said since most people take prescription drugs, it makes sense to mandate coverage. She also contended that lawmakers shouldn’t be setting policy for the Connector board.

The state Senate previously voted to kill a proposal to exempt self-employed workers and independent contractors from the prescription drug coverage.

Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei, R-Wakefield, proposed the exemption as an amendment to a health care cost-control bill. He and his GOP colleagues argued that many self-employed workers were insured but opted to forgo plans with drug benefits because of the unaffordable cost.

Sen. Richard Moore, co-chair of the Committee on Health Care Financing, countered that drug benefits were necessary to ensure that all Massachusetts residents get the care they need.