Budget Process
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Read MoreICER report on fair access to drugs prompts six insurers to change coverage policies
A powerful new scorecard from the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) assessing 15 of the largest US formularies for barriers to accessing 28 fairly-priced drugs found generally good policies for clinical standards (96% are fair), step therapy (99%), and prescriber restrictions (100%). However, the report found poor policies for cost sharing tiers (77%)…
Read MoreOHS 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 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 MoreCTNJ: OP-ED | Legislators Hear How RI Saved 2 Hospitals From Private Equity, Other Solutions to High Insurance Premiums
On Friday, in a forum sponsored by state Rep. Kerry Wood, six national and local experts gave legislators specific policy tools to help with health care market consolidation and rising drug prices that are driving up health insurance premiums. Legislators also got specific tools used by Rhode Island to avoid private equity abuses experienced in…
Read MoreLegislative forum on drivers of rising health costs
Connecticut legislators will hear from experts on the drivers of rising health insurance premiums and options to control costs next Friday, September 24th at noon. The forum — Consolidation, Private Equity, and Drug Prices in Health Care Costs — is sponsored by Rep. Kerry Wood, Co-Chair of the Insurance and Real Estate Committee. The forum…
Read MoreCTNJ: Covered Connecticut is a good start, but needs tending
Policymakers were challenged this year to find an answer to voters’ demands for affordable healthcare coverage options. Both leading legislative proposals, a public health insurance option and restoring previous cuts to HUSKY parent coverage, had drawbacks and neither passed. The administration, together with the insurance industry, developed an alternative behind closed doors that did pass.…
Read MoreCovered Connecticut – Origins, Goals, Opportunities, and Concerns
Read the brief Covered Connecticut is a new program to cover uninsured state residents with no-cost health insurance coverage through Access Health CT, Connecticut’s health insurance exchange. The program leverages federal subsidies, some of which are temporary, and an anticipated Medicaid waiver to offer state residents combined with state funds. Some services, missing from exchange…
Read MoreCTNJ OP-ED | Congress Wants to Lower Drug Prices to Fund Important Priorities
Economists argue that rising healthcare costs crowd out resources for other societal priorities such as education, infrastructure, climate change, and housing. It makes sense in theory but, until lately, it seemed a bit abstract. But right now, Congress and the administration are making the point in very real terms. Policymakers want to make big investments…
Read MoreRoom for improvement on CT health risks
Download the report Connecticut adults’ health risks are largely similar to the US average, but that’s not great news. According to the latest CDC survey of American adults, Connecticut ranked better than other Americans on most health risks in 2019. In most cases, we are only slightly healthier. We did exceed the US average in…
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