Gov. Patrick wants health cost veto

The Boston Globe reports:

Governor Deval Patrick is seeking sweeping authority to review and reject rates charged by hospitals, physician groups, medical imaging centers, and insurers, in a broad new effort to make health care more affordable, particularly for smaller companies and their workers.

A 40-page bill filed by the governor yesterday proposes to give the insurance commissioner the power to essentially cap health care 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.

Similarly, for health insurance plans sold to employers with 50 or fewer workers, premium increases that exceed one and a half times the level of medical inflation would be considered excessive and could be turned down.

If the Massachusetts health care experiment was working so well: the government wouldn't need price controls.