A&F releases draft health insurance emergency regulations

The Executive Office for Administration and Finance today issued its draft emergency regulations to outline administrative procedures for two aspects of the Municipal Health Insurance Reform Act.

The office will be accepting comments on the regulations until 5 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 8. Comments should be addressed to Pam Kocher, director of local policy, at pam.kocher@state.ma.us.

A&F intends to file emergency regulations early next week.

The landmark law (Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2011), signed on July 12, authorizes cities and towns to modify employee health plans – such as increasing co-pays and deductibles and introducing tiered networks – without going through the full collective bargaining process.

Administration and Finance is charged with issuing regulations to outline the administrative procedures for a 30-day period of negotiation between municipal management and labor over proposed plan design changes. A&F is also issuing administrative procedures for the local “municipal health insurance review panel,” which, in cases where an agreement is not reached between management and labor, would review the plan design proposal to ensure that it meets the statewide benchmark and would evaluate plans to mitigate the impact of the changes on certain subscribers.

• Download the draft regulations (112K Word)