Mass. Seeking To Lower Business Health Care Costs

Gov. Deval Patrick is seeking to ease health care costs for small business owners.

Patrick said Tuesday he's planning to file two bills to expand the power of the state Division of Insurance.

One bill would give the division more power to eliminate unnecessary administrative costs that could help reduce premiums.

The second would let the division reject health insurance premium rates for companies if they are deemed unreasonable compared with the benefits offered.

Patrick said the administration is also working on a system to let small businesses create cooperatives to increase their purchasing power and negotiate lower insurance rates.

Small businesses have faced double-digit premium increases in recent years.