Posts by Ellen Andrews
Governor 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 MoreNew faces at the CT Health Policy Project
We are pleased to announce two additions to the CT Health Policy Project community. Jen Ramirez, MSW has joined us as Director of Programs. Jen will be in charge of the Consumer Health Action Network, including newsletters, surveys and advocacy, as well as several policy areas. Jen has worked at the Latino Policy Institute of…
Read MorePCCM could save HUSKY more than $100 million over HMOs
An analysis by the CT Health Policy Project estimates that it will cost the state $113 million more annually to moving HUSKY families to HMOs than to Primary Care Case Management (PCCM). PCCM is a way of running HUSKY without HMOs, by creating “medical homes” to coordinate care. PCCM has been successful in thirty other states…
Read MoreSecond PCCM provider forum also successful
Last night, DSS held their second forum for providers on PCCM at DSS’ offices in Hartford. Again the event was very well attended and most providers were enthusiastic about the program. As in Tuesday’s forum, concerns about adequate adult medicine resources were raised, but in at least one case community adult and pediatric providers linked…
Read MoreGovernor agrees to delay HUSKY defaults until February
Yesterday legislators and the Attorney General held a press conference urging Governor Rell to delay forcing 250,000 HUSKY families into HMOs with inadequate provider networks. Families were scheduled to be defaulted into three HUSKY HMOs December 1st including two new health plans, Aetna Better Health and AmeriChoice, which have had difficulty enrolling providers. Just after…
Read MorePossible legal action to stop HUSKY families default into HMOs
Kevin Lembo, CT’s Health Care Advocate, plans to sue the state to stop the planned December 1st mandatory transition of over 200,000 HUSKY consumers into managed care plans that do not have adequate provider networks. Lembo and a growing group of advocates and officials have been concerned that the planned transition will lead to many…
Read MoreSuccessful PCCM provider forum last night
Over 30 providers attended the PCCM forum held with DSS at our offices in New Haven last night. We had to get more chairs and make extra copies of the materials. There was a great deal of enthusiasm for the program and most providers suggested that they will be filling out an application. Most providers…
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