No gamble on this front

Given the continuing front page coverage of a failed gambling bill, Massachusetts voters have reason to be forgiven if they have no knowledge of the recently passed health care bill. There has been virtually no coverage of the legislation which passed both houses unanimously last week.

As I noted below, the bill's provisions about transparency of rates, costs, and clinical outcomes are noteworthy. But there are other important features, too.

If you do a web search, you find some mention of the bill. Here's a piece from an insurance web site. The head of the retailers association, a person who was not timid in past months about the need for a bill, is quoted:

Jon Hurst, president of the Retailer's Association of Massachusetts, said the bill will enable small businesses to obtain premium prices that large employers use their market clout to secure.

"This is the most important reform small businesses have seen in 20 years designed to give them and their employees' health insurance premium relief and equal rights under the law and in the marketplace," Hurst said.

I offer no opinion here on the gambling bill, but I am confident that whatever its economic impact might or might not have been, the economic impact of the health care bill will be more pervasive for years to come.