Archive for November 2008
More from the Consumer Helpline
I received a phone call on Tuesday from a Communications Officer in the Commissioners Office of the Department of Social Services. She was concerned about my blog posted on Monday, which mentions the difficulty I had with the general phone number at one of the DSS regional offices. She explained that there is a toll…
Read MorePCCM advocates forced to walk out of meeting
Yesterday’s PCCM working group meeting at DSS did not go well. DSS had no agenda for the meeting which started twenty minutes late. Advocates asked for an explanation of the department’s sudden decision to reverse course from the months-long policy of starting the program statewide to a far weaker program limited to two smaller communities.…
Read MoreFrom the consumer helpline
I started working with the CT Health Policy Project a few weeks ago and I’ve been familiarizing myself with the types of calls that come into our consumer helpline. So far, what I’ve observed is that for people without health insurance, their options are usually limited. The system of care available to them is fragmented…
Read MoreCharter Oak “pettiness”
To root out the sources of “negativity” about the Governor’s troubled Charter Oak program, on Friday DSS Commissioner Starkowski made very broad requests, under Freedom of Information laws, for any documents pertaining to Charter Oak from a long list of public officials including Sen. Jonathan Harris, Rep. Peter Villano, Sen. Toni Harp, Health Care Advocate…
Read MoreAG, Health Care and Child Advocates call on Governor to separately re-bid HUSKY and Charter Oak contracts
In a press conference today, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, State Health Care Advocate Kevin Lembo, and State Child Advocate Jeanne Milstein commended the Governor for her decision Friday to de-link the HUSKY program of health coverage for families from her Charter Oak Health Plan for uninsured adults. The officials also called on the Governor to…
Read MoreGovernor delinks HUSKY from Charter Oak, guts PCCM
Friday afternoon Governor Rell announced that she will reverse two long standing policies that jeopardized health care for over 340,000 CT residents in the HUSKY and Charter Oak programs. Providers will now be able to contract with the new HUSKY HMOs to provide services only to HUSKY families and not Charter Oak members. The state…
Read MoreCT health plan comparisons
US News and World Reports has published their annual national comparison of HMOs. CT has two commercial HMOs listed in the top 20 “Honor Roll” – Health New England (#6) and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield (#7). Health New England is not listed as a managed care organization on the CT Insurance Dept.’s website. A…
Read MoreNew law allows children to stay on their parents’ policies until age 26, but there’s a catch
A new law takes effect January 1, 2009 that allows children to stay on their parent’s health policies to age 26. As young adults are at highest risk of being uninsured, this will be an important option to reduce CT’s uninsured. Previously, children were only covered on their parent’s policies until age 19 or 23…
Read MorePCCM applications rolling in
They are still counting provider applications at DSS for participation in PCCM, but early returns are encouraging. Dozens of providers have applied, including physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants, from across the state. All but one community health center has applied. We’ll let you know when we have a definitive list for the opening of…
Read More