Massachusetts Legislators To Finalize Budget Plan, Sparing Prescription Drug Benefit Program; Acting Governor Backs Off Some Health Program Cuts
Massachusetts lawmakers plan to finalize on Nov. 19 and Nov. 20 the "long-overdue" state fiscal year 2002 budget that will include $650 million in reductions in health care, human services, higher education and the judiciary, the Boston Globe reports. Massachusetts Senate President Thomas Birmingham (D) said that the proposal "draws heavily" on $750 million from the state's "rainy day fund," last year's budget surplus and funds from the state's share of the national tobacco settlement to address an estimated $1.4 billion deficit. State lawmakers plan to finalize the budget by midnight Nov. 20, with the state House and Senate set to vote on the plan Nov. 21, the last day of the legislative session. The budget plan, 141 days overdue, will include "some cuts" in public health funding but will "spare" the state's pharmacy program for seniors and restore the state's hepatitis C prevention campaign (Ranalli, Boston Globe, 11/19).
Revised Swift Proposal
Meanwhile, acting Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift (R) revised her budget proposal over the weekend to "scale back" health care reductions in a $22.5 billion budget proposal that she unveiled earlier this month (Flint, Boston Globe, 11/18). The plan includes $700 million in budget reductions and would "draw less" on last year's budget surplus than the plan proposed by the state Legislature (Ranalli, Boston Globe, 11/19). Stephen Crosby, state secretary of administration and finance, said that Swift's proposal would reduce health and human services spending by about $61 million, rather than the $99 million reduction first proposed (Flint, Boston Globe, 11/19). Under a plan introduced earlier this month, Swift had proposed a $66 million reduction for public health programs and a $96 million reduction for human services. The planned reductions in public health funding would have included $17 million for AIDS prevention programs, $5 million for breast cancer screening, $5 million for family planning and $2.8 million for prostate cancer research (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 11/13). "In the governor's judgment, the (original) cuts were draconian," Crosby said. As a result, Swift plans to restore funding for several public health programs, including AIDS prevention, smoking cessation, substance abuse, breast cancer screening, family health and Medicaid administration (Flint, Boston Globe, 11/18). The Boston Globe reports that Swift "backed down" on the budget reductions in the "politically sensitive" area of public health after a number of groups, such as the American Cancer Society, criticized the proposal (Ranalli, Boston Globe, 11/19).
Only a 'Symbolic' Plan?
However, according to the Boston Globe, Swift's proposal represents "mostly a symbolic effort to prod Beacon Hill lawmakers to come up with their own spending plan" (Flint, Boston Globe, 11/18). Swift has criticized state lawmakers for the "long delay" on a state budget, and most observers predict a "heated debate" on the issue this week. State lawmakers have dismissed Swift's budget proposal as "dead on arrival" (Ranalli, Boston Globe, 11/19). For data and other information on health in the states mentioned in today's Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, visit State Health Facts Online.
