Pols push relief in bills for reform

Top lawmakers and industry Leaders will testify at a hearing to examine bills requiring health providers and insurers to justify their costs and open their books to state regulators
"We cannot sustain the continuing rise in health-care costs" aid Senate President Therese Murray. "When you add it to the rise in energy and food costs, families are not making it here in Massachusetts".
Murray's bill would force health providers and non profit insurers to document reasons for cost increases, among other things.
Another bill by State Sen. Mark Montigny would cap pay at 500,000 for executives working at tax-exempt non-profits with annual revenues of more than $1 million.
But the health industry reps said executive salaries are being blamed for cost hikes that have more to do with increasing prices for medical procedures and prescioption Drugs.
"Focusing on executive pay is misunderstanding waht the real cost-drivers are" said Marylou Buyse, presiden of the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans