Massachusetts Health Care Reform Bills Stalled

By Dan Bobkoff

BOSTON, MA – Efforts to implement sweeping health care reform in Massachusetts appear to be stalled as the house and senate have significantly different proposals on the table. Under House Speaker Sal DiMasi's proposal, companies employing more than 10 people would face a new payroll tax that they could avoid only by providing health insurance. The measure, which aims to cover 95 percent of the state's roughly 500,000 uninsured residents within three years, would tax companies with fewer than 100 employees at 5 percent of their payroll. Those with more than 100 or more workers would be taxed at 7 percent.

WAMC's Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Dan Bobkoff has the story.