Senator Bruce Tarr Joins Health Care Conference Committee

Continues to Seek Cost and Access Improvements

 *My office distributed the following press release today*

Boston- State Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R- Gloucester) will serve on the House/Senate Conference Committee on the health care cost containment legislation that was initially adopted by the Senate in November of 2017 and by the House in last week following the adoption of an order by the Senator on Monday. The Committee is charged with producing a final proposed health care reform bill subject to the approval, without an opportunity to amend the bill further, of both the House and Senate.

Tarr, who has long been focused on seeking ways to control the cost of health care while improving access to quality providers such as community hospitals, will serve with Senator James Welch (D- Springfield), and Senator Jason Lewis (D- Winchester) in representing the senator on the six member committee.

“While Massachusetts leads the nation in medical innovation, technology, and expertise in care, the significant and growing cost of that care can be destabilizing for household budgets and divert state resources away from other spending priorities like education, transportation, and public safety,” said Tarr. He added that “educating consumers about health care cost and quality and giving them good tools to make those choices can be a very important avenue to achieving individual an systemic savings while supporting providers of quality care throughout our state.”

“Health care cost, access, and quality issues have such dramatic impacts that we need to explore every feasible option to address them,” said Tarr. “My hope is that this conference committee will be vigorous in its pursuit of meaningful measures that will make a real difference in controlling costs and ensuring access to quality care.”

House Majority Leader Ronald Mariano (D- Quincy), Representative Jeffery Roy (D- Franklin), House Vice Chair of the Health Care Financing Committee, and Representative Randy Hunt (R-Sandwich) were appointed to represent the House. ###