Archive for March 2022
COVID’s lessons — and what we can do about them
COVID exposed Connecticut’s underlying health disparities to new audiences, receiving a lot of public attention. But what have we learned? A new report from the CT Health Foundation looks at what went wrong, what went right, and what we can build on to fix this long-standing problem. Going back to the old-normal of inequities isn’t…
Read MoreLegislators hear diverse voices favoring competition to control healthcare costs
Update 3/22/2022 — SB-416 passed the Insurance and Real Estate Committee unanimously. Twenty-one organizations and state residents testified in favor of SB-416 in Thursday’s Insurance and Real Estate Committee public hearing. Just three testified against. SB-416 would level the playing field in Connecticut’s healthcare market by prohibiting anti-competitive contract clauses used by large health systems…
Read MoreTestimony: Consolidation’s harms to stressed healthcare workers
From Haley Magnetta, fellow at CT Health Policy Project, written testimony in support of SB-417, An Act Promoting Competition in Contracts Between Health Carriers and Health Care Providers I am testifying as a clinically practicing Emergency Medicine Physician Assistant (PA). As a provider who has worked in hospitals that have been consolidated, I want to…
Read MoreFact Check: Does OHS’s Primary Care Roadmap include capitation? Yes, 31 times
In the Insurance Committee’s March 1st public hearing on HB-5042, advocates stated that the Office of Health Strategy’s Primary Care Roadmap plan, authorized in the bill, includes capitation as the payment model. Primary care capitation has failed in Medicare despite significant investment and multiple trials. Advocates are concerned that, if implemented, the Roadmap would divert…
Read MoreInsurance committee to hear bill to mitigate consolidation and lower healthcare costs
Download our testimony One of the main drivers of Connecticut’s rising healthcare costs is consolidation in the healthcare market, making health coverage increasingly unaffordable for consumers, employers, and businesses. Next Thursday, March 14th, the insurance committee will hold a public hearing on SB-416, An Act Promoting Competition in Contracts Between Health Carriers and Health Care…
Read MoreNew tool finds all CT health systems’ commercial prices are far higher than needed to cover expenses
According to a new tool, Connecticut hospitals would have needed commercial rates equal to 135% of Medicare levels in 2020 to cover their expenses, much higher than the US average of 114%. However, every health system in Connecticut charged well above that level, far more than needed to cover expenses. The National Academy for State…
Read MoreCTNJ op-ed: Children deserve healthcare, regardless of immigration status
Last year, Connecticut policymakers made the smart and moral decision to provide HUSKY coverage to children from low-income families through age eight, regardless of immigration status, starting next year. It’s the right thing to do. It makes sense for the children and their families, as well as the rest of us. It’s a good start,…
Read MoreTestimony supporting Governor’s drug price cap and opposing OHS primary care plan
The Insurance and Real Estate Committee is hearing today the Governor’s healthcare bills. Areas of disagreement include a proposal to limit how much drug prices can rise and the Office of Health Strategy’s (OHS) plans to cap the growth of overall healthcare spending while doubling spending on primary care. Among non-state agencies, fifteen people and…
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