CT Health Reform
742,000 CT residents with pre-existing conditions’ access to coverage will be protected under ACA
New estimates from Families USA finds that 742,000 non-elderly CT residents have been diagnosed with serious conditions often linked to individual coverage denials. Beginning in 2014 under the Affordable Care Act, no Connecticut resident can be denied coverage, charged a higher premium, or sold a policy that excludes coverage of important health services simply because…
Read MoreCT health reform progress up to 15.2%
CT made impressive progress toward health reform in August. We moved from 13.7% of the way to 15.2% this month. Highlights include negotiation of a compromise Essential Health Benefit Package and CMS grant funding to the insurance exchange. The grant is very exciting – the state plans to use most of the funding for a…
Read MoreHHS approves CT application for more insurance exchange funding
Today Health and Human Services, the federal agency tasked with approving and funding state insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act, announced that CT’s Level II insurance exchange application has been approved for $107 million, along with new grants for seven other states. A large part of CT’s grant is meant to fund development of…
Read MoreCT health care spending growth roughly tracks our GDP
Is health care spending skyrocketing? Yes and no. It is true that total health spending in CT averaged 7.9% annual increases from 1980 to 2009, higher than the 6% growth rate for our overall state economy (Gross State Product, GDP). However when overall economic growth slows, health care spending growth does as well, according to…
Read MoreUpdated CT Health Policy 101
Our CT Health Basics primer/training module for the CT Health Policy Project is updated. Check www.cthealthbook.org regularly for other resource updates.
Read MoreHow will 137,000 CT residents get their MLR rebate money?
Today’s CT Post highlights some of the confusion about the insurance rebates mandated by the Affordable Care Act from health plans that didn’t spend at least 80% of premiums on health care and quality. This month 137,452 state residents should get refunds averaging $168 but how they get the money varies. If consumers bought an…
Read MoreHealth cost moderation predated recession; holds hope for future
A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine finds that recent “curve bending” reductions in health spending growth started before the recession. Economists had suggested that the recent moderations in health costs were simply a result of the overall economic downturn and would skyrocket again as the economy picks up. But better adjusted…
Read MoreAugust web quiz – CT local health system performance
Test your knowledge about CT local health system performance. Take the August CT Health Policy Webquiz.
Read MoreAugust CT Health Reform Dashboard – 13.7% progress
This month CT is again making progress toward health reform. We are now 13.7% of the way toward health reform. Unfortunately we are up only slightly from last month’s 13.2% performance. At this rate, it will take over fourteen years to fully implement reform, but January 1, 2014 is only a year and a half…
Read MoreHealth Insurance Exchange Board recommends standards for benefit package
Last week, the CT Health Insurance Exchange Board voted on their recommendation for the benchmark essential health benefit (EHB) package that must be offered in 2014 by all individual and small group plans, both inside and outside the Exchange, under national health reform. Federal regulators granted states the ability to define the EHB package, within…
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