Archive for September 2009
CT Health Policy Project turns ten
The number of CT residents living without health insurance is up 18% in the last ten years. Ten years ago the CT Health Policy Project began our work to improve access to quality, affordable health care for every CT resident. In the last ten years we’ve published 223 analyses, briefs and studies and mentored 43…
Read MoreTeachers lead with germiest work environments
As cold and flu season approaches, the WSJ blog has identified the occupations most likely to encounter germs. As expected, teachers lead the list with twenty times the germs per square inch of attorneys who have the cleanest offices. Teachers’ phones are the main culprit, accountants have the dirtiest desks and you don’t want to…
Read MoreHeroin overdoses hit most CT towns, moving to suburbs and to older victims
A new study by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health finds that, on average, more than one CT resident died every other day from heroin overdose deaths in the last eleven years. That rate is rising; it may soon overtake automobile accidents as a cause of death. The problem is spreading out of…
Read MoreAnnual comparison of health plans out
The CT Insurance Dept. has released their 2009 Consumer Report Card on Health Insurance Carriers in CT. The report compares insurance plans on the number of participating providers and 14 quality measures including rates of cancer screening, immunization rates and the percent of physicians who are board certified. For example, the percentage of patients who’ve…
Read MoreCT far behind in patient centered medical homes
According to NCQA, the organization that certifies medical homes among other things, CT has no practices that have been certified. Compare that to our neighboring states – MA with 87, ME with 56, NY with 225, NH with 132, RI with 31, and VT with 32. But we are going to fix this. CT Medicine’s…
Read MoreDanbury and Windham county lead the state in uninsured rates; large variability between CT cities and counties
A new report from the US Census finds that at 14% of residents uninsured, Danbury led CT municipal areas last year. Danbury’s rate was 60% higher than the Hartford area at 8.6%. Both the Hartford and New Haven municipal areas were below the state average of 10.2%. Among counties, Windham led the state at 14.1%,…
Read MoreJoanne Iennaco joins CT Health Policy Project Board
CTHPP welcomes Joanne Iennaco to our Board of Directors. Joanne is an Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Nursing in the Psychiatric Mental Health Specialty. She holds a PhD in Chronic Disease Epidemiology; her research focuses on the effect of psychosocial aspects of the workplace on health. To learn more about Joanne, visit her…
Read MoreIndividual mandate may be unconstitutional
In a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, two former Justice Dept. attorneys argue that the individual mandate included in national health reforms could be overturned by federal courts as “profoundly unconstitutional.” The attorneys make different points than the CT Health Policy Project’s paper last year, arguing that the mandate is an unfair cross-generational subsidy, infringes on…
Read MoreSustiNet celebration
oin the Universal Health Care Foundation of CT and all the partners who made passage of SustiNet possible for a celebration Thursday, October 1st 6 to 9pm at Union Station in Hartford. Click here to RSVP.
Read MoreIndividual mandate’s drawbacks getting national attention, finally
All the current health reform bills being considered in Washington include an individual mandate, requiring every resident to have health coverage – either through a public program like HUSKY or, if not eligible, people will have to buy it. The only open question is whether they will have a publicly run option to purchase insurance…
Read More