Posts by Ellen Andrews
Exchange premiums up from this year, lots of variation
Our analysis of the recently announced 2014 Access Health CT standard plan premiums finds that for five typical CT households covered by the two health insurers with premium history – Anthem and ConnectiCare – in all but one case, families will experience significant premium increases from this year. Premiums will rise between 30 and 163%.…
Read MoreCT moves up to 13th worst in hospital Medicare readmission penalties
Twenty four CT hospitals will face Medicare penalties because of readmission rates averaging 0.43% of Medicare revenues. In an important move to link payment to quality of care, Medicare began last year providing individual hospitals with penalties and rewards based on the number of discharged patients who are readmitted within a month. While CT…
Read MoreAetna leaves CT insurance exchange
Aetna has withdrawn their application to participate in Access Health CT, our state’s health insurance exchange. Aetna’s proposal was the least costly individual premium option for 14 of the 15 examples given at the last Board meeting. Unfortunately this reduces the affordability of options in the exchange and leaves only three plans each in…
Read MoreAugust CT Health Policy Webquiz: CT health insurance base premiums
Test your knowledge of base health insurance premiums in Connecticut for this year. Take the August CT Health Policy Webquiz.
Read MoreCT Health Reform Progress Meter moves up to 23.1%
CT policymakers have completed 23.1% of the tasks necessary for health reform, making up for last month’s drop. Most tasks on the Progress Meter list are due on Jan.1st of next year. Medicaid accounted for the forward progress in August’s Health Reform Dashboard. Deep concerns about payment reform in the SIM processand the insurance…
Read MoreSIM update
The SIM steering committee reviewed final recommendations from their work groups yesterday. The SIM project is developing payment and care delivery models for at least 80% of state residents – 3 million people or more and $30 billion in CT health spending. The recommendations are very detailed and specific, but they maintain that there…
Read MoreAccess Health CT rates up sharply, CID review and competition helped
Today’s CT Health Insurance Exchange/Access Health CT board meeting included a report from Wakely actuaries hired by the exchange to review rate proposals from health plans applying to offer coverage in the exchange. According to Wakely, plans have filed numerous revisions lowering their rate proposals, largely in response to each other and questions from the…
Read MoreConnectiCare withdraws SHOP exchange proposal
ConnectiCare has notified Access Health CT, our state’s health insurance exchange, that they are withdrawing their proposal to participate in the SHOP exchange. This leaves only three insurers in the small business portion of the exchange – Anthem, United and HealthyCT. ConnectiCare still intends to participate in Access Health CT’s individual exchange along with…
Read MoreAn ACA primer for CT
Arielle Levin Becker of the CT Mirror has drafted a sensible, brief FAQ on health reform, what is coming in January and what it means for people who don’t read Health Affairs for a living. She has done an expert job of distilling the confusion into an accessible resource. Thank you Arielle.
Read MoreHealthyCT lowers rates in insurance exchange
Healthy CT, the new co-op insurer created with federal support under the ACA, has revised their proposed premiums for the CT Health Insurance Exchange, Access Health CT. The new rates, much lower than their competitors, will average $271 per month for individuals and $408 for small businesses. Those individual rates will vary between $111…
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