Doctors, insurers clash over ‘affordable’ plans

BOSTON – The Massachusetts Medical Society is vigorously fighting a bill that would create a new class of “affordable” health plans for small businesses with mandatory caps on providers’ pay and on insurers’ profits and administrative allowances.
The measure, backed by the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans and business groups, aims to lower insurance costs for employers with up to 50 workers. Those employers have struggled the most to comply with the state’s employer-coverage mandate amid fast-rising premiums.
By capping providers’ pay, limiting profits to 2 percent, and requiring that at least 85 percent of premiums be spent on medical costs, the “affordable” plans are expected to cut premiums by as much as 22 percent.
But at a legislative hearing, MMS President Dr. Mario Motta testified that the bill would worsen the primary care shortage, reduce patient access to care, and alienate providers.
Instead, he urged officials to take other cost-cutting approaches. &#8226