Posts by Ellen Andrews
Medicaid Managed Care Council meeting update
Friday’s Council meeting was uneventful. After a year, there are 342 people in PCCM/HUSKY Primary Care; legislation requires at least 1,000. Despite that, DSS is steaming ahead on plans to evaluate the program by July 1st. It is fascinating that they are just now deciding to comply with deadlines in this program – they have…
Read MoreThousands line up for free dental care
People began lining up outside this year’s Mission of Mercy clinic at 3am Friday morning. The CT Dental Association sponsors the clinics annually to provide free dental care to CT residents in need. This year’s clinic ran Friday and Saturday in Middletown but could only care for 1,000 patients each day. Almost 1,700 people, clinicians…
Read MoreCouncil of State Governments/Eastern Region state/provincial updates
The latest health policy update from CSG/ERC the Northeastern US states and Canadian provinces is online. The CT Health Policy Project has worked with CSG/ERC on health policy issues for over four years – providing policy analysis and support while shamelessly stealing great ideas to bring back to CT.
Read MoreFrom the helpline
An uninsured consumer called our office looking for help paying bills to two hospitals. He had been placed into collections but he had received no information about financial assistance. He made $17,000 last year; not wealthy by any means but ineligible for SAGA. He has no children, so doesn’t qualify for HUSKY. I called Milford…
Read MoreNew plan for Dempsey hospital
The Governor and UConn unveiled their newest plan to revive John Dempsey Hospital at the UConn Health Center in Farmington. The $352 million plan will be funded with $100 million from national health reform, assuming it passes, and by re-directing $227 million from already-approved projects elsewhere. The cost is down from previous plans costing $430…
Read MoreReport finds CT long term care skewed toward nursing homes
A new report by the CT Regional Institute finds that the way we pay for long term care costs us an additional $900 million/year in Medicaid costs. Currently, CT spends 47% of our long term care funding on expensive nursing home care; we are 34th in the nation in the proportion spent on home and…
Read MoreNancy Pelosi visits New Haven to talk about health care reform
US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi spoke to about 100 advocates, providers, and policymakers yesterday at the Graduate Club in New Haven about women’s health and the benefits of the health reform bills being considered in Congress. She was hosted by US Rep. Rosa DeLauro and US Rep. John Larson and joined by Dr.…
Read MoreBuying insurance can be confusing
When I was at a friend’s house recently, his parents were in the process of choosing a health plan because his mother had just gotten a new job, and they were finally going to have health insurance through her employer. There were several plans to choose from, and all of them looked similar, except that…
Read MorePCCM bill public hearing
Tuesday the Human Services Committee heard HB-5297, An Act Concerning Statewide Expansion of the Primary Care Case Management Pilot Program. The bill would, as the title says, expand PCCM statewide as of October 1st and delay the planned evaluation of the program until next year. Advocates have raised concerns about DSS’ plans to evaluate the…
Read MoreGovernor proposes more cuts to health care
To address the growing budget deficit, the Governor’s mitigation plan includes $13.7 million in new cuts to health care programs. The cuts include higher copays and premiums for HUSKY Part B and Charter Oak families, cuts to community and school-based health centers, cuts to Medicaid providers, reductions in hospital DSH payments for the uninsured, new…
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