On Monday, April 10th, the House Ways and Means Committee proposed a $40.3 billion budget for FY2018 that calls for increasing spending by 3.8 percent, or about $1.47 billion, above FY2017 levels. The spending increase is less than the 4.3 percent, or $1.65 billion, increase in spending proposed by Governor Charlie Baker, which is largely due to lower projections for MassHealth enrollment.

The budget notably alters the Governor’s proposals to curb rising Medicaid costs, in particular the fair share assessment that aims to curb rising MassHealth enrollment. The budget also rejects three of the commercial insurance market restrictions that Baker recommended in his budget and his proposed five-year moratorium on new commercial health insurance mandates.