BOSTON (January 31, 2017): The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), Massachusetts’s largest small business advocacy group received a copy of the presentation of Dr. David Torchiana, CEO of Partners Health Care, before the Health Care Price Disparity Commission today. While Dr. Torchiana espouses the belief that health care is affordable in Massachusetts, small business begs to differ.
“Dr. David Torchiana’s contention that Massachusetts health care costs are reasonable and affordable is ridiculous on its face. His premise is, quite frankly, insulting to the small business owners of Massachusetts,” said NFIB Massachusetts State Director, Bill Vernon. “The fact that some people in our state have the resources to compensate for out of control healthcare expenditures is obviously irrelevant to the vast majority of small employers and employees that are strapped with the burden of these costs.”
According to Vernon, small businesses have been struggling with high and rapidly increasing health care costs for several years. The failure of the state and federal governments to prioritize controlling costs throughout over the past ten years of health care related reforms has resulted in a generally stagnant small business economy.
“Health care cost increases have meant that workers receive less in their paychecks while paying higher deductibles and co-pays. At the same time, small business owners are discouraged from growing their businesses and adding jobs due to the associated price tag with providing healthcare coverage,” continued Vernon. “I urge members of the Commission to focus on the extreme price disparity among health care providers in the Commonwealth instead of pretending like the system is working for everyone.”