Archive for November 2021
OHS primary care committee sharply critical of agency’s plan
In this month’s meeting of the Office of Health Strategy’s Primary Care Subgroup, patient and consumer advocates joined insurers raising very strong concerns about OHS’s plans and capacity to implement the agency’s plan for primary care in Connecticut. OHS plans to double the share of Connecticut’s healthcare spending on primary care while tightly restricting growth…
Read MoreCTNJ Op-Ed – The Brainard Fund still making a difference after 64 years
In 2010, I got a call that advocates only dream about. The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving had a dedicated fund to pay medical bills for Hartford area residents who couldn’t afford them, and they wanted my help directing the money to people most in need. The good news is that the Brainard Fund still…
Read MoreLast year unjustified price increases for nine drugs cost US healthcare $1.67 billion, Humira accounted for $1.4 billion
According to this year’s report, last year the US health system spent an extra $1.67 billion on price increases for nine drugs that were not supported by clinical evidence. Humira led this year’s list at $1.4 billion, accounting for 84% of US unjustified drug price increases in 2020. Humira aside, the more modest price increases…
Read MoreResponse to OHS primary care capitation defense
Today, the CT Health Policy Project responded to a letter from the Office of Health Strategy regarding concerns from 25 independent consumer advocates, providers, and organizations. OHS’s response to our offer to work together to improve the health of every Connecticut resident is very welcome. In that spirit, the letter clarifies a few misunderstandings of…
Read MoreCTNJ op-ed: It’s a miracle — Under new agreement, Medicare will negotiate drug prices
Democrats in Washington have negotiated a deal to allow Medicare to negotiate prices with drug companies. Americans pay 2.56 times higher drug prices than residents of other developed countries. It has always been embarrassing that federal law prohibits Medicare drug price negotiation and the FDA can’t consider costs in drug approvals. The US is the…
Read MoreCost Cap primary care project only focusing on raising spending, not services
At the October 26th Primary Care Subgroup meeting, in response to questioning by a member, the Office of Health Strategy’s (OHS) consultants repeatedly confirmed that the goal of the Cost Cap provision on primary care is solely to raise spending, not to increase services. Members raised serious concerns about sending more money into the current…
Read MoreNew Cost Cap Steering Committee is industry-driven
The first meeting of the new Steering Committee to guide the Office of Health Strategy’s (OHS) plan to cap healthcare cost growth was uncharacteristically quiet. The meeting started with public comment from the Universal Healthcare Foundation of CT that the committee membership is “not balanced”, includes mainly members with “deep vested business interests”, and lacks…
Read MoreCT ranks 15th among states in healthcare affordability, but that’s not saying much
Connecticut has implemented many policies to make healthcare affordable; unfortunately, they aren’t working. According to Altarum’s new Healthcare Affordability State Policy Scorecard, Connecticut earned 43.1 out of 80 possible points. There is a lot of room for improvement. Altarum ranked states on adoption of policies that can impact affordability and on outcomes, whether care is…
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