Page 10 THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, FEbRuARy 21, 2025 MassFiscal slams Governor’s hidden prescription drug tax Plan will hurt consumers to pay for migrant-driven MassHealth costs T he Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance (MassFiscal) sharply criticized Governor Maura Healey’s hidden tax on prescription drugs disguised as a “pharmacy assessment,” which was inconspicuously slipped into her fiscal 2026 budget proposal. The tax, which resurrects a failed policy from two decades ago, would charge pharmacies up to $2 per prescription, with the funds funneled into the state’s struggling MassHealth program – a system increasingly burdened by costs associated with the state’s migrant crisis. “This proposal is a prescription for disaster. It’s a hidden tax that will ultimately be passed on to consumers, raising healthcare costs at a time when families, seniors, and small businesses can least afford it. Governor Healey is asking Massachusetts residents to foot the bill for a broken MassHealth system that is drowning in expenses, largely due to her administration’s inability to address the migrant crisis,” said MassFiscal Executive Director Paul Diego Craney. The “pharmacy assessment” – buried in Section 78 of Healey’s budget – imposes either a 6% fee on pharmacy revenues or $2 per prescription, whichever is lower. The administration claims that the tax will not impact patients directly, but MassFiscal asserted that this notion is misleading. “This is a tax, plain and simple, no matter what spin the administration puts on it. Pharmacies will have no choice but to pass these costs along to consumers. For most people in Massachusetts, this will mean higher out-of-pocket costs for essential medications,” said Craney. According to the Healey administration, the tax is expected to generate up to $145 million annually to prop up MassHealth and prevent pharmacy closures in low-income areas. However, MassFiscal noted that the governor’s approach avoids tackling the root causes of MassHealth’s unsustainable growth. “MassHealth costs are skyrocketing because of Beacon Hill’s refusal to address the influx of illegal and inadmissible migrants overwhelming our public programs. Rather than enacting meaningful reforms to control costs, Governor Healey is resorting to taxing prescription drugs—a move that will hurt Massachusetts residents while letting her administration’s fiscal mismanagement off the hook,” said Craney. This is not the first time Massachusetts has attempted such a tax. A similar “pharmacy assessment” was struck down by a Superior Court judge in 2003, who called it an illegal excise tax. Then-Governor Mitt Romney later vetoed an attempt to revive it, citing its disproportionate impact on seniors and those on fixed incomes. “Governor Healey is recycling bad policy from two decades ago. It didn’t work then, and it won’t work now. The people of Massachusetts deserve better than to have their healthcare costs hiked to pay for a problem the administration refuses to fix,” closed Craney. MassFiscal advocates for fiscal responsibility, transparency and accountability in state government and increased economic opportunity for the people of our Commonwealth.
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