CT Health Reform
CT 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…
Read MoreExchange Navigator Committee moves into recommendations
Yesterday the CT Health Insurance Exchange Brokers, Agents, and Navigators Committee started the hard work of developing a structure and defining roles for the Navigator Program. Navigators will educate and help enroll potential individual and small business exchange, and Medicaid enrollees. Under the ACA and federal regulations, navigators must have demonstrated ability to reach those…
Read MoreCT gets a Medicare Accountable Care Organization
Today CMS announced 89 new approved Medicare shared savings Accountable Care Organization applicants, including MPS ACO Physicians in CT. Prior to today, CT had no approved Medicare ACOs. Other CT organizations have reportedly recently submitted ACO applications. The Medicare ACO program, created in the Affordable Care Act, is designed to improve access and coordination of…
Read MoreThe ACA and what it means for CT consumers
While we are all celebrating the Supreme Court upholding the Affordable Care Act, consumers want to know what it means in the real world. The CT Health I-Team has a great piece answering just that question.
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