House Speaker Ron Mariano delivers remarks at MassBio\u2019s \u201cState of Possible\u201d conference on Wednesday March 26, 2025.<\/p>\nSam Drysdale \/ SHNS
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Speaker Mariano: \u201cWe\u2019re coming back to work on this\u201d<\/h2>\n
BOSTON, MARCH 26, 2025\u2026\u2026The House Democrats redrafting Gov. Maura Healey\u2019s budget won\u2019t adopt her plan to add new taxes on prescription drugs, House Speaker Ron Mariano said Wednesday, appearing to take off the table more than $200 million in proposed levies.<\/p>\n
Mariano told pharmaceutical leaders at MassBio\u2019s \u201cState of Possible\u201d conference that the House would drop the idea Healey included in her $62 billion annual budget bill in January. The speaker indicated to reporters after his speech that the House would also likely not pursue Healey\u2019s idea to apply the sales tax to candy. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Healey\u2019s budget sought a new tax on prescription drug manufacturers for excessive price increases. The administration estimated it could generate $60 million for the state. Her bill would also reestablish a pharmacy assessment on prescription drugs sold in Massachusetts, where pharmacies would be charged 6% per prescription or $2, whichever is less. The estimated $145 million generated from the new charge would have paid for the costly MassHealth program.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not a doctor \u2026 but I subscribe to the Hippocratic Oath. I do no harm, first. That\u2019s why in our House budget coming out, we won\u2019t include any taxes on prescription drugs in our budget. That means no arbitrary taxes tied to a drug\u2019s list price, or on our consumers filling prescriptions,\u201d Mariano said Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Mariano told reporters after his speech that the House has looked at similar ideas in the past and decided against them, and at least once voted against an amendment to a bill that was similar to the governor\u2019s pharmacy assessment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t help,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re concerned about competitiveness and people residing and staying in Massachusetts, and adding two dollars to a prescription just based on the fact that you have to have a prescription \u2014 it was not something we wanted to do. It\u2019s the wrong message.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if those concerns around competitiveness influence how he is looking at Healey\u2019s other tax proposals in the fiscal 2026 budget, Mariano responded, \u201cYes, absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n
The speaker\u2019s declarations came midway through public hearings on the governor\u2019s budget, and weeks before a House Ways and Means Committee redraft of the bill is due to be released.<\/p>\n
The governor recommended newly applying the sales tax to candy for an estimated $20 million in revenue, applying tobacco taxes to synthetic nicotine pouches, and capping how much taxpayers could claim under a charitable deduction, which officials say is worth up to $164 million. General tax collections outside of the income tax on high earners have slowed, returning to pre-pandemic levels of growth, while spending appetites remain high \u2014 and budgetwriters are looking for creative ways to find revenue to support spending.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe interesting thing is for some of them, we have a history, and it\u2019s not good. We\u2019ve never supported, I know at least twice we\u2019ve voted down the sugar tax, so you can extrapolate from that,\u201d Mariano responded.<\/p>\n
The speaker\u2019s announcement during his speech that the House would not pursue the new taxes on prescription drugs was met with applause from the audience.<\/p>\n
Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, the number-two Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, expressed concerns about the governor\u2019s proposal this month at a budget hearing, and asked how the state could avoid the charges being \u201ctransferred onto the consumer by Big Pharma.\u201d<\/p>\n
Administration and Finance Secretary Matthew Gorzkowicz replied that the pharmaceutical tax on manufacturers for exceeding cost growth benchmarks would allow prescription drug prices to grow at the same rate as inflation, but not to exceed inflation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that, in itself, provides a constraint that protects consumers. Again, this is in the case where we have excess drug pricing,\u201d he said. \u201cIn an ideal world, there\u2019d be no penalties and there\u2019d be no charges.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mariano on Wednesday also announced his chamber would revisit some House-backed initiatives that didn\u2019t make it into the pharmaceutical law lawmakers hammered out late last year.<\/p>\n
They include requiring insurance companies to count any assistance a consumer receives towards their out-of-pocket spend; making permanent the ability of consumers to use drug manufacturer coupons to pay for prescriptions; and ensuring that pharmacy benefit managers pass through at least 80% of the discounts they negotiate directly to consumers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to include, and we will include, we\u2019re coming back to work on this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
House Speaker Ron Mariano delivers remarks at MassBio\u2019s \u201cState of Possible\u201d conference on Wednesday March 26, 2025. Sam Drysdale \/ SHNS Speaker Mariano: \u201cWe\u2019re coming back to work on this\u201d BOSTON, MARCH 26, 2025\u2026\u2026The House Democrats redrafting Gov. Maura Healey\u2019s budget won\u2019t adopt her plan to add new taxes on prescription drugs, House Speaker Ron […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[17616,19145,7243,594,5770,53333,21076,7356],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-162375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insurance","tag-drugs","tag-dumping","tag-healey","tag-house","tag-plans","tag-prescription","tag-revisiting","tag-tax"],"yoast_head":"\n
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