HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2041        FILED ON: 1/14/2009

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2954

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act imposing a moratorium on mandated benefits..

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

Subsection (b) of section 38C of Chapter 3 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting at the end thereof the following:

Notwithstanding the foregoing or any general or special law or regulation to the contrary, no mandated health benefit bill shall be reported favorably by any joint committee of the general court or the house or senate committees on ways and means, unless and until the rate of increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for medical care services as reported by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics remains at zero or below zero for two consecutive years. The Division of Health Care Finance and Policy shall file an annual report with the house and senate committees on ways and means, the joint committee on insurance and the joint committee on health care no later than the last day of January for the previous year certifying the rate of increase in the CPI for medical care services.