Biz leaders rip state health care tax

Miffed business leaders say that House leaders have essentially kept alive Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposal to hit companies with a health insurance tax as part of their $40.3 billion budget proposal, which calls for more dialogue — but no concrete alternatives — to the controversial plan.

The House’s spending bill gives Baker clearance to impose fees on companies whose health insurance offerings don’t meet state criteria, which he has proposed to set at $2,000 per employee.

But the House offered no details on what it should look like. Instead it calls on the state to hold a public hearing and get the business community’s input before releasing a slimmed-down version that could generate $180 million for the state, not the $300 million Baker proposed.

“We firmly believe that health care costs in the state are out of control,” said Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, which has criticized Baker’s fee proposal.

“But the fact (the House) is still keeping it alive, I think we all need to take a step back as consumers and taxpayers and question whether this is really a revenue problem or an expenditure problem.”

Bill Vernon, state director for the National Federation of Independent Businesses, said he’s encouraged the House didn’t fully embrace Baker’s “plan A or plan B” and that talks could stretch into fall, when it could be more clear what changes, if any, await Obamacare in Washington.

But, he noted, “the House also refused to do a plan C.”

“They couldn’t come up with something they were comfortable with, and they told the Baker administration to go back to the drawing board,” Vernon said, adding, “the idea of an assessment (on businesses) is insulting.”

Baker’s proposal is intended to rein in state Medicaid costs, which have doubled over the last decade. But it’s drawn fierce opposition from the business community, which House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo said he heard repeatedly. He said he hopes kicking a potential alternative back to the Baker administration, and providing it more time, can lead to something that’s “easier to swallow for the business community.”

“We obviously can’t continue to go down this path,” DeLeo said of the growing costs.

The House budget, like Baker’s, did not include any broad-based tax increases, but it also brushed off Baker’s call for taxes on shortterm rentals through Airbnb, which DeLeo said should be addressed through separate legislation.