Travaglini seeks to raise rates of insured residents

Senate President Robert Travaglini proposed making long-term investments in health care to reduce the amount of Massachusetts residents without health insurance at a meeting with the Boston Chamber of Commerce Wednesday.

"We have an obligation to fix the existing health care system so that it continues to take care of the sick, the poor and the uninsured," he said.

Travaglini (D-Boston) said his plan would cut the number of uninsured residents in half within the next two years and boost the economy. It will also improve the quality of health care, he said, without raising taxes or fees and without imposing mandates on insurers and businesses.

"A one size-size-fits-all health care package crafted by the government is not the answer to our health care problems," he said.

The three-part plan includes market-based reforms, target investments and long-term reforms, he said the plan would encourage the private market to offer affordable healthcare, expand health care coverage and stop rising health care costs that affect businesses.

Travaglini said federal government Medicaid cuts would jeopardize the success of his proposed reforms because it requires federal funding.

"Simply put, without this money, many of our hospitals may not be able to survive financially, and even our best teaching hospitals will have a difficult time to fulfill their mission," he said.

Travaglini said he considers the Medicaid problem to be a "matter of life and death for real people."

"Everyone in Massachusetts needs to join in unison to protect our Medicaid system," he said. "We will do everything that we possibly can to cover half of the uninsured in two years. But if the federal government slashes our Medicaid reimbursements, this goal cannot be achieved."

In a statement released Wednesday, Gov. Mitt Romney discussed his similar plan to reform health care. Romney agreed with Travaglini's goal to drastically decrease the number of uninsured residents, but their proposed application of such reform differs.

"With the small percentage of uninsured in Massachusetts, we are in a unique position to give all of our citizens quality health insurance," he said in the statement. "This will not be a government-mandated universal coverage program or a plan that requires new taxes. It will be a market-based reform focused on the creation of affordable insurance plans."