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House targets health spending

Proposal aims to cut growth in half; Excessive prices would lead to tax

By Liz Kowalczyk

 |  Globe Staff  

  May 04, 2012

Massachusetts House leaders released a major proposal to control health care costs today, saying their plan would save families thousands of dollars over the next five years. The bill would require the medical industry to cut the rate of growth of health spending in half, to about 3.7 percent, mirroring the overall growth in the Massachusetts economy. The legislation also takes aim at the extreme variation in prices that hospitals charge insurers and government payers for similar services.

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