Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) on Monday said that he had not decided whether to support a new $295-per-worker assessment on companies that do not provide health insurance to their workers, the Boston Herald reports (Fitzgerald, Boston Herald, 3/14). The assessment is part of an agreement reached by state House and Senate leaders on March 3 and would affect companies with 10 or more employees that do not provide health coverage. The assessment would help fund the state's free care pool (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 3/6). Romney said the state already charges businesses that cover their employees a $62 fee per worker to fund the state's free care pool. Since 2003, Romney has said he would not "support any new tax" and is "especially reluctant to break his campaign pledge as he considers a run for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination," according to the AP/Boston Globe. The proposed assessment "could be viewed as an alteration of a targeted, existing fee, rather than a new tax," the AP/Globe reports (Johnson, AP/Boston Globe, 3/14). Romney said, "We have to see how it will be applied," referring to the assessment. He also said the proposal being considered contains "90% to 95%" of what he proposed last year (Boston Herald, 3/14). Romney added, "[C]learly I'm anxious" to come to a settlement because the state could lose part of $385 million in funding it receives from the federal government for indigent care if a plan is not implemented by July 1 (AP/Boston Globe, 3/14). House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi (D) and leadership from the Senate on Tuesday "rejected" a proposal from Romney that would have reduced or eliminated the $62-per-worker fee, the Globe reports. DiMasi said, "The terms and the parameters of the agreement had already been set." Senate President Robert Travaglini (D) on Tuesday said that work on the agreement is nearly completed, adding, "The biggest obstacle we're left with is just fine-tuning the language and the definitions and preparing it for debate on the floor" (Philips, Boston Globe, 3/15).