Massachusetts State House – June 30, 2022 Update
June 30, 2022David Gauthier, MassAccess
Thursday, June 30, 2022:
• As of Wednesday night, DPH reported a total of 1,763,744 cases of COVID-19.
• The state reported 1,529 new confirmed cases and 17 new deaths.
• The state now has 19,701 deaths from the virus.
• Insurer AllWays Health Partners announced a rebrand on Wednesday, with plans to launch its new name Mass General Brigham Health Plan on Jan. 1, 2023.
• Formerly known as Neighborhood Health Plan, AllWays was founded in 1986 by the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers and Greater Boston Forum for Health Action. It became a part of the Mass General Brigham health care system – then known as Partners HealthCare
• By adopting the Mass General Brigham name, the health plan said it aims to “reflect and advance the system’s unique provider-payer integration,” highlighting its connection to and collaboration with MGB’s academic medical centers, hospitals, physician networks and other components.
• With one month left in the fiscal year, the Massachusetts Lottery is close on the heels of its profit pace of last year but would have to close a roughly $31 million gap in June if it is to match its record-setting haul.
• Sales were down $32 million last month compared to May 2021, but the Lottery produced a $12.9 million year-over-year increase in net profit thanks to a sizeable decrease in the amount of scratch ticket winnings that were claimed and a drop in the monthly prize payout percentage.
• With one month to go, the Lottery is running $30.8 million behind last year’s pace, Bracken’s presentation said.
• The Lottery produced a record $1.112 billion in profit in fiscal 2021 for the Legislature to use as local aid despite having to navigate the consumer and economic changes brought upon by the pandemic. Goldberg’s early estimate for fiscal year 2023 Lottery profits (which become state revenue used for local aid) was roughly $1 billion.
• Returning to a bill that never emerged despite featuring in last week’s plans, the Senate on Thursday approved legislation reforming the bail process for young people entangled in the criminal justice system.
• The bill (S 2943) would eliminate a $40 bail fee youth must pay, an amount that Sen. Adam Gomez of Springfield said “means a great deal for many people in our commonwealth,” and would allow bail fees to be paid through virtual or mobile options.
• Two other bills dealing with forfeiture reform (S 2671) and judicial supervision (S 2836) remain shelved after Minority Leader Bruce Tarr one week ago first used a parliamentary tactic to delay their consideration.
• Senators did not tackle any other major business in their Wednesday session with a final fiscal year 2023 budget deal not yet ready to emerge after Gov. Charlie Baker on Monday signed a roughly $6 billion interim budget to keep state government services operational in July.
• he Senate will return in another formal session on Thursday at 11 a.m., where the agenda features bills dealing with vulnerable children and families, foster parent rights, and pre-exposure prophylaxis.
• Lawmakers tasked with producing a final accord on mental health access legislation will kick off their negotiations with exactly one month remaining for major business in the 2021-2022 session.
• The panel will meet in-person in the House Members’ Lounge and begin its talks open to the public. Most conference committees begin their work during an open meeting before voting to retreat behind closed doors after a few minutes of introductory remarks.
• The two bills, approved unanimously in both chambers, each would require insurers to cover annual mental health wellness exams and seek to rein in the practice of emergency department boarding, which causes patients seeking behavioral health beds to undergo long waits in EDs.
• The branches took different approaches to some details, including whether to launch a new state Office of Behavioral Health Promotion and how to assist K-12 districts that are trying to increase behavioral health services in schools.
• The Legislature’s COVID-19 committee this week released a report and 16 recommendations that members said would put Massachusetts on a better footing to deal with future calamities.
• The Joint Committee on COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness and Management’s report also reviews state government’s response to the first global pandemic in 100 years, but the lawmakers on the committee also called for a “statewide after-action-report” to look in detail at the steps state government took (and did not take) as the pandemic unfolded over the last two-plus years.
• The committee included many of its report recommendations in omnibus legislation (H 4714) that it reported out in April. That bill has also been given a favorable report from the Committee on Health Care Financing and has been pending before the Senate Committee on Ways and Means since mid-June.
• In its 16th of 16 recommendations, the COVID-19 Committee said that what the state really needs is, essentially, a COVID-19 vaccination czar.
• Juveniles who become entangled in the criminal justice system would no longer face a financial charge to get released on bail or personal recognizance, under a bill the Senate approved Wednesday.
• Eliminating the $40 bail fee for juvenile defendants is one component of the legislation (S 2943), which would also codify pandemic-era options allowing people arrested in Massachusetts to pay their bail fees through virtual or mobile means, according to a summary.
• The bill would also outline new requirements for bail magistrates to get notified and make decisions about releasing juveniles who are arrested. Gomez said existing law gives each police station’s officer in charge authority either to release a young person or to call a bail magistrate.
• Senate leaders teed up the bill alongside two others dealing with asset forfeiture reform (S 2671) and juvenile diversion (S 2836), both of which remain in limbo after Minority Leader Bruce Tarr on Wednesday again used a parliamentary tactic to postpone debate.
• House lawmakers on Wednesday crossed one item off their health care agenda by passing a bill limiting the power of insurers in prescription decisions, and as the Legislature runs up against the deadline for action on major bills, key Democrats have also identified other areas where movement could be possible.
• A bill aimed at minimizing dangers that health care workers face from violence on the job (H 4574) was endorsed by the Health Care Financing Committee on June 2. That bill is before the House Ways and Means Committee and has not yet surfaced for a full House vote.
• Multibillion-dollar borrowing bills are still winding their way through the legislative process, and a state budget for the fiscal year that starts Friday is one of several pieces of legislation being negotiated by House-Senate conference committees,
• Another set of health care bills – dealing with access to mental and behavioral health – is also among the items being worked out among lawmakers, with the first conference committee meeting scheduled for Thursday.
• The House and Senate are also working pursuing protections for Massachusetts reproductive health care providers and their patients against investigations, prosecutions and similar actions that other states could initiate in the wake of last week’s Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court decision that eliminated the federal right to an abortion.
• Representatives pointed to “compelling and emotional testimony” from patients who have been made to try and fail on insurance-preferred treatments before their insurer would approve the more expensive treatment prescribed by a doctor as they voted unanimously Wednesday to put restrictions on the practice known as step therapy.
• The bipartisan vote was 153-0 to pass a bill (H 4929) that does not ban step therapy but seeks to lay out a “consistent and transparent manner” in which public and private insurance providers could use the practice when medically appropriate.
• There was no debate in the House on the bill and the only amendment filed was withdrawn without comment. But representatives who have sponsored step therapy bills took to the podium to share stories about how constituents have been made to watch as their disease or condition gets worse before their insurance would cover the cost of a treatment that their doctor thinks would help.
• The Senate unanimously passed a step therapy bill in July 2020, but it did not get a House vote before the end of that legislative session.
Need more information? Click here
