May 3, 2012 | 9:16 AM |

The Wonk Olympics: Sweeping New Health Cost-Cutting Plan Coming

FILED UNDER: Insurance, Medicine/Science, Politics, cost, global payments, mass. health reform

In this April 12, 2006, file photo, then-Gov. Mitt Romney is seen with lawmakers and staffers after signing the state's universal health law at Faneuil Hall in Boston. (AP File)

In health policy circles, it’s as big as the Olympics, with major players, major maneuvering and all eyes watching. It’s a sweeping new plan to control health care costs through radical changes in how doctors are paid and other measures that will be soon be unveiled by state lawmakers in the next chapter of health reform, reports WBUR’s Martha Bebinger. Here’s a bit of her preview:

The House and Senate are expected to build on movements that are already under way: global payments, electronic health records and the increased focus on primary care. The House point person on health care, Steven Walsh, has outlined his proposals in meetings with dozens of groups.

Legislators are considering some controversial moves.

The Senate has talked about taxing insurance company profits. One House leader has a proposal to close the gap in payments to rich and poor hospitals. There’s a vigorous debate about how aggressive the state should be in trying to hold down health care costs.

Health care is 18 percent of the Massachusetts economy. Trying to reorganize and reduce health care spending without hurting the health care industry is a high-stakes gamble. And, as Cutler pointed out, the nation is watching.

“A few years ago, Massachusetts was the first state in country to decide that we can and we will cover everybody,” Cutler said. “And then the rest of the country followed. Now is our opportunity to show that we can make the health care system work for everybody. And if we do that then the rest of the nation will follow as well.”

About the author

Blogger, CommonHealth Rachel Zimmerman worked as a staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal for 10 years, most recently covering health and medicine out of the paper’s Boston bureau. Rachel has also written for The New York Times, the (now-defunct) Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the alternative newspaper Willamette Week, in Portland, Ore., among other publications. Rachel co-wrote a book about birth, published by Bantam/Random House, and spent 2008 as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. Rachel lives in Cambridge with her husband and two daughters. View all posts by Rachel Zimmerman →