CT Health Reform
CTNJ Op-Ed: Insurers’ explanations for extreme rate increases don’t make sense
Connecticut’s health insurers are asking state regulators to let them increase premiums an average of 20.4%, far more than last year’s 8.6% request. Insurers in other states are asking for less than half as much. Connecticut insurers are blaming increased demand for services due to COVID backlogs, that deductibles aren’t keeping up with rising costs,…
Read MoreCT NJ Op-Ed: We need better, smarter solutions
There’s a lot of news about the Supreme Court’s decision on abortion and the latest mass shootings. Efforts to preserve women’s choices and bring sanity to our gun laws are critically important. But we don’t spend as much time finding upstream solutions to prevent problems, so we won’t need a fix. This blindness is very…
Read MoreYale BIPOC disability group seeking members with lived experience
The Disability Lived Experience Action Network, D-LEAN, is seeking people who identify as BIPOC with disabilities – mental, intellectual, or developmental. D-LEAN is sponsored by the Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health and funded by the Connecticut Council on Developmental Disabilities. D-LEAN is looking for leaders or emerging leaders. Members will learn about the…
Read MoreCovered CT opens no-cost health insurance coverage to adults
Friday, the state expanded zero-cost health insurance coverage to include childless adults through the Covered Connecticut program. The program covered parents and child caregivers starting last year, but now any Connecticut adult with qualifying income can enroll in zero-cost health insurance through Access Health CT. The state expects 40,000 people to qualify for the expanded…
Read MoreCT hospitals losing ground on social responsibility
Eight Connecticut hospitals received A grades this year for social responsibility from the Lown Institute, down from twelve last year. No Connecticut hospitals were in Lown’s or US News’ top 20 hospitals in the US. Griffin Hospital ranked #157 in Lown’s composite ranking this year among 3606 US hospitals, the best in Connecticut. Last year…
Read MoreCT ranks 3rd in health system performance, but there’s lots of work to do
Connecticut’s health system performance is the third best in the nation, according to the latest Commonwealth Fund State Scorecard. COVID strongly influenced state’s performance; Connecticut ranked tenth among states on seven measures including COVID mortality, health system stress, and vaccination rates. There is a lot of room for improvement in Connecticut’s health system. Sadly, Connecticut…
Read MoreCTNJ Op-Ed: Advice from an advocate for the next OHS Director
Op-Ed: Advice from an advocate for the next OHS Director This week the Lamont administration announced that Vicki Veltri will be leaving state service in a few weeks. She will be missed. Director of the Office of Health Strategy is a tough job. The cost of healthcare is straining every budget in the state, including…
Read MoreCost Cap finds drugs driving up healthcare spending, but we knew that, and their numbers are misleading
The latest analysis by Mathematica for the Office of Health Strategy’s plan to cap healthcare costs used a small slice of a small slice of Connecticut’s drug spending. We already knew, from other sources, that drug spending is a main driver of rising healthcare costs in Connecticut and the problem is skyrocketing prices. OHS’s analysis…
Read MoreMore doctors are moving to corporate and hospital employment, jacking up prices & new WI lawsuit
Movement of physicians from independent practice to hospital and corporate employment accelerated during COVID. By January 1st of this year, 74% of physicians in the Northeast were employed by hospitals or corporations according to a report by Avalere Health for the Physicians Advocacy Institute. Half (52%) of Northeastern physicians work for hospitals and 22% for…
Read MoreHow CT can save $162 million in healthcare waste
An analysis of Connecticut’s commercial insurance markets finds we spent $9.45 per person per month on wasteful low-value care in 2019, according to a new report by VBID Health. Of the $162 million total, $24.5 million was from patient out-of-pocket costs. Low-value care provides no or minimal benefit to patients and is an important driver…
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