Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is seeking sweeping authority to review and reject rates charged by hospitals, physician groups, medical imaging centers, and insurers. The move is an effort to make healthcare more affordable, particularly for smaller companies and their workers. A bill filed by Patrick proposes to give the insurance commissioner the power to essentially cap healthcare price increases. Rates hospitals and other health providers charge insurers would be "presumptively disapproved as excessive" if they increased faster than the level of medical inflation, and they could be rejected after a public hearing, the Boston Globe reports.
