CT Health Reform
Exchange tweaks for 2015 offerings – weak on affordability, expanded networks, HSAs
Changes for next year’s CT health insurance exchange plan offerings are small and unlikely to change premiums much. Cost sharing for the most affordable plans will be rising, with consumers paying more for services. Studies find that even modest increases in cost sharing lead consumers to reduce both necessary and unnecessary care, and can drive…
Read MoreNew to the CT Health Policy Book Club – Reinventing American Health Care
I received the newest addition to the CTHPP Book Club — Reinventing American Health Care: How the Affordable Care Act Will Improve our Terribly Complex, Blatantly Unjust, Outrageously Expensive, Grossly Inefficient, Error Prone System — when the author, Ezekiel Emanuel, came to an ICER boarddinner in Boston this spring. He spent the evening talking and…
Read MoreCabinet meeting – exchange and SIM updates
Most of today’s Cabinet meeting was spent on SIM’s decision to create a CT-specific medical home standard rather than using well-vetted, evidence based national standards. (May 29th we are hosting a webinar with NCQA to learn more about the NCQA system that has certified 1,009 PCMH providers in CT already. Register here.) Questions were raised…
Read MoreMay Health Reform Dashboard, Webquiz online
Test your knowledge about health risk factors in Connecticut adults. Take the May CT Health Policy Webquiz. May’s Health Reform Dashboard and Progress Meter show the state moving backward. While CT improved in data transparency, we lost ground in the APCD’s decision to reject patient-centered policies and deny sensible privacy rights to state residents (more…
Read MoreSHOP exchange facing challenges, low enrollment
A CT Mirror article examines the reasons behind very low enrollment in CT’s insurance exchange for small businesses (SHOP). This shouldn’t come as news – low enrollment was predicted by analysts hired by the exchange. The reason was also predicted – it’s expensive. The article explores other problems including poor marketing, no online tool linking…
Read More208,301 in CT enrolled in health care under ACA
AccessHealthCT has worked through the queue of applications pending when enrollment into the insurance exchange closed March 31st. Between Jan 1stand March 31st, 208,301 state residents were enrolled in coverage. Most qualified for Medicaid – 129,588 – approximately the number of new eligibles originally estimated for the state. (For the nitpickers out there – it…
Read MoreHealth Care Cabinet meeting — SIM, exchange updates
Yesterday’s Cabinet meeting was lively — not sure it was productive. The insurance exchange reported on a flurry of last minute activity that significantly boosted enrollment. Final numbers will be available in a few weeks when it becomes clear how many people follow through and pay premiums, and the backlog of people in the queue…
Read MoreCTNJ Op-Ed: How is CT’s exchange really doing?
CT News Junkie is a CT treasure that policymakers, advocates and other stakeholders rely on for the latest information on the topics we need to track. CTNJ gives you the unvarnished news about what’s happening, and why. CTNJ Op-Eds offer an important platform for thoughtful commenters to give context to the news and offer their…
Read MoreHealth Insurance exchange: “customer complaints are a blessing”
In yesterday’s Health Care Cabinet meeting’s insurance exchange report we learned that staff there welcome complaints as windows into their system’s flaws. They understand that if they hear one complaint, it usually means there are 50 other consumers with the same problem who didn’t call. They see these as opportunities to fix problems and learn.…
Read MoreThoughtleaders give CT health reform a C+ again
In the first survey since the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansions became effective, state health thoughtleaders’ perception of our state’s progress hasn’t changed much. CT again earned a C+ on health reform, and interestingly a somewhat lower C grade for effort in the latest survey. Among issue areas, CT continues to earn better marks for…
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