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How I Voted H.4530

  • Writer: Administrator
    Administrator
  • Sep 22
  • 2 min read

H.4530- An Act making appropriations for fiscal year 2025 to provide for supplementing certain existing appropriations and for certain other activities and projects (Support for Fiscally-Strained Health Care Institutions)


On Wednesday, September 17, 2025, I voted YES on H.4530, a bill that provides $234 million in aid to fiscally strained health care institutions including hospitals and community health centers around Massachusetts, including $7,350,849 for Southcoast Hospitals Group and $962,791 for St. Anne’s Hospital (Brown University Health). The bipartisan vote was 148 YAY and 1 NAY.


H.4530, addresses a widening funding gap in the Health Safety Net program, which pays acute care hospitals and community health centers for necessary medical care for low-income, uninsured, and underinsured Massachusetts residents. Recent federal policies and funding shortfalls have exacerbated the fiscal strain on these vital institutions that serve people most in need.


This legislative response provides critical relief in the face of unfortunate federal actions and economic headwinds, distributing aid based on criteria that directs funding to vulnerable populations most in need of assistance.


Strengthening Massachusetts Hospital Systems


The funding agreement makes $199 million available for eligible high public payer acute care hospitals across the Commonwealth through an approach that maximizes federal financial reimbursements, stabilizes the Health Safety Net Trust Fund, and makes targeted payments to hospitals to maximize the impact of taxpayer dollars.


  • Provides $122 million in targeted relief payments to certain acute care hospitals utilizing eligibility criteria designed to maximize the impact of taxpayers’ dollars for those hospitals and communities which need it most. The eligibility criteria include:

    • Each hospital’s patient mix, prioritizing those which serve the greatest share of

      the state’s low-income population.

    • Each hospital’s affordability, prioritizing those which provide services at the most affordable prices.

    • Each hospital’s financial standing, prioritizing those which have the most severe fiscal strain.

  • Transfers $77 million into the Health Safety Net Trust Fund to stabilize the program for hospitals providing services to the greatest share of the Commonwealth’s vulnerable populations.


Supporting Massachusetts Community Health Centers


  • Community health centers continue to support the Commonwealth’s greatest share of vulnerable populations while facing federal funding delays, Medicaid cuts, and rising pharmaceutical and other medical costs.

  • The agreement provides $35 million in financial relief to community health centers,

    including $2.5 million for the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers to facilitate regional savings initiatives, including shared service options.


Our vote on Wednesday was on engrossment. Both chambers of the Legislature voted to enact the supplemental budget on Thursday, sending the legislation to the Governor for her signature.





Contact:

State Rep Mark Sylvia: Mark.Sylvia@MaHouse.Gov

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