GREENFIELD — Amid rising health insurance rates, Human Rights Commission member Paul Jablon drafted a resolution calling for the city’s support of a bill to convert  Massachusetts to a single-payer health care system — a change that he said was expected to save the city $3 to $5 million in insurance costs. 

Jablon, presenting the proposed resolution at a Human Rights Committee meeting last week, argued that state-run health care would not only save the city and its residents from exorbitant health care prices, but remedy the state’s homelessness crisis. 

“This relationship between health care and homelessness is a dual thing,” Jablon said. “Over half of personal bankruptcies in the U.S. result from health issues,  which, in many cases, leads to homelessness.”

State Sen. Jamie Eldridge and Reps. Lindsay Sabadosa and Margaret Scarsdale refiled legislation to establish  single-payer health insurance in Massachusetts in February. The bill, called “An Act Establishing Medicare for All in Massachusetts” (HD.1228/SD.2341), seeks to establish the Massachusetts Healthcare Trust: a single payer of all health care costs to replace insurance companies.

The trust would be financed using existing programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, as well as four new taxes — employer payroll, employee payroll, self-employed and unearned income — that would replace and are estimated to be much lower than current insurance premiums, co-pays, deductibles and out-of-pocket payments.

Noting that in the last year, the city’s insurance costs increased by roughly 16%, an increase that has is mirrored in municipalities across the state, Jablon said implementation of a state single payer system would save the city anywhere from $3 to $5 million in employee health insurance costs. 

“Greenfield Human Rights Commission is charged with ensuring the human right of health,” he said. “With what's happening with the current system, cutbacks that are happening and how much we're paying just for the school system alone … imagine what we could do with teachers and supplies and repairing schools with that $3 million to $5 million.”

Human Rights Commissioners were generally supportive of the proposed resolution, with members such as Paki Wieland mentioning that the legislation is likely to face backlash from large health insurance companies. 

Commission Chair Mpress Bennu suggested that the commission seek support from neighboring communities’ human rights commissions as it finalizes the resolution, explaining that regional support for the bill would be more effective than a sole resolution from Greenfield. 

Jablon added that the draft resolution will likely not be ready for a vote at the commission’s next meeting June 16, adding that he hoped to bring the document before Mayor Ginny Desorgher and Chief of Staff Erin Anhalt to discuss the best way to bring it forward. 

"I definitely love this and I would like to request that we meet with other commissions in other areas to get this conversation going,” Bennu said. “It's not just our area that's experiencing this and if we unite as a whole, we go in with more power.” 

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.