Massachusetts Ways and Means Hears $33.7 Billion Health Budget With Proposed Dental Cuts

BOSTON — March 27, 2026 — Massachusetts Ways and Means committee hears $33.7 billion health budget proposal with cuts to dental and GLP-1 drug coverage. The Joint Committee on Ways and Means, co-chaired by Representative Meghan K. Kilcoyne and Senator Robyn K. Kennedy, convened in Clinton Town Hall on March 27 to receive testimony from seven health and human services panels on the Healy-Driscoll administration's fiscal year 2027 budget request. EOHHS Secretary Dr. Kiyomi Mahania told the committee the $33.7 billion request, an $889 million or 3 percent increase over FY26, is driven largely by non-discretionary cost pressures and warned that federal cuts under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will strip approximately $3.5 billion annually from state health funding. MassHealth Undersecretary Michael Levine proposed capping adult dental benefits at $1,000 per year, projecting $120 million gross and $60 million net in savings, and eliminating GLP-1 coverage for weight-loss-only use effective July 1, a category he said accounts for roughly half of the program's 18 percent year-over-year pharmacy spending growth. Levine also said 300,000 Massachusetts residents are projected to lose Medicaid coverage by 2030, with work requirements for 300,000 to 400,000 adults set to begin in January 2027. The Department of Mental Health's proposed reduction of the jail diversion program to $4 million, a pre-pandemic level, drew the sharpest pushback from members, who argued that co-response programs save both lives and downstream costs.