baker budget.JPG
Gov. Charlie Baker announces his fiscal year 2018 budget proposal at the Statehouse on Jan. 25, 2017.
(SHIRA SCHOENBERG / THE REPUBLICAN)
A group of unions, health care advocacy groups, and others signed a letter of support for Gov. Charlie Baker's proposed fee on businesses that do not offer adequate health insurance for their workers.
"We believe holding employers responsible for offering affordable health insurance coverage to their employees is an essential aspect of continued and successful healthcare reform," the letter says. "If we are to continue leading the nation on healthcare reform, we must ensure employers do not shirk their responsibility to provide affordable coverage, thereby shifting costs to state health care programs."
The letter expresses concern that if Congress repeals the Affordable Care Act and there is no Massachusetts fee on employers, workers will lose health insurance coverage.
As part of his fiscal 2018 budget proposal, Baker proposed assessing a $2,000-per-employee fee on businesses with more than 10 employees who do not offer adequate health insurance.
Although a similar fee was included in Massachusetts' 2006 health care reform, that fee was only $295 per worker, and the standards were lower for the amount of the insurance costs that businesses must pay and the percentage of workers who must use the coverage.
Businesses oppose the fee. They argue in particular that requiring 80 percent of workers to take an employers' insurance plan will penalize small businesses that only have access to expensive plans if their employees decide to get coverage elsewhere.
Baker has since said that he is open to changing the proposal, and is talking to people in the business and health care communities about it.
The liberal advocacy group Health Care for All organized the letter in support of Baker's plan, which was signed by 21 organizations, including unions representing health care workers and advocacy groups representing seniors, immigrants and low-income individuals. The letter was sent to the chairmen of the Legislature's Ways and Means Committee, which is now considering Baker's budget proposal.
Read the full letter here.