CT Health Reform
Public hearings on health insurance exchanges
The state will be holding hearings on plans for creating a health insurance exchange for CT under national health reform. The exchange is meant to be a standardized, regulated, easy-to-understand marketplace for individuals and small businesses to purchase coverage and apply for assistance. Advocates have sent a letter to the state outlining our recommendations for…
Read MoreRAND report predicts reform will save CT state government 10% on health care spending
A new economic modeling analysis by RAND for the Council of State Governments estimates that 170,000 more CT residents will gain coverage by 2016 under health reform bringing our uninsured rate from 11% to 5%. The report also predicts that slightly more employers will offer coverage; employers will remain the largest source of coverage for…
Read MoreSustiNet passes Public Health Committee
Yesterday the Public Health Committee passed the SustiNet bill on a party line vote. Even legislators who voted against the bill praised most of the provisions and the intent of the bill. Concerns centered on potential state liability (although the bill requires SustiNet to be self-sustaining), that it will “take over” Connecticut’s insurance market (only…
Read MoreACA caps on consumer spending would have helped 139,100 CT consumers this year
A report released today by Families USA finds that caps on what consumers have to pay for health care in the Affordable Care Act, if they were in effect this year, would have helped 139,100 Connecticut residents and saved families almost $250 million. Adjusted to today’s dollars, the caps limit consumers’ health costs over $5,950…
Read MoreInsurance exchange planning meeting
CT’s Health Insurance Exchange Planning Group held its first meeting under the new administration. Filed legislation offers two very different views for CT’s health insurance exchange, particularly regarding the role of insurers and providers in developing standards and choosing health plans allowed to participate in the exchange. OPM reported on the RFP for development of…
Read MoreSustiNet and health insurance exchange bills heard
The Public Health, Human Services and Insurance Committees had a public hearing on the SustiNet bill and competing visions for CT’s health insurance exchange yesterday. Public support was overwhelming for SustiNet; most legislators were supportive. Some asked for concrete assurances of how much the plan will reduce costs and improve access to care. But as…
Read MoreState moving to ASO and PCCM for all Medicaid consumers
At a press conference today, Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman and OPM Secretary Ben Barnes announced that CT’s Medicaid program will move to a self-insured administrative services organization (ASO) model effective Jan. 1, 2012. An RFP is expected to be released next month. The state will also expand the current PCCM/patient-centered medical home program statewide as…
Read MoreLegislators looking at UConn contract for prisoners’ care for savings
An AP article in the New Haven Register reports that policymakers are looking to review and possibly open UConn’s $94 to $100 million health care contract with the Department of Corrections. UConn provides medical, dental and mental health care to 19,000 state inmates at an average of $4,780 each last year. At least one other…
Read MoreHealth care reform – CT and national
While Republicans in Washington work to repeal national health reform, Connecticut’s Public Health Committee has raised the SustiNet bill – our state’s version of reform.
Read MoreThe final word – HUSKY ASO cost less than HMOs – or it should have
At Friday’s Medicaid Oversight Council meeting Mercer actuaries gave us the final comparison of the costs of the HUSKY program under the ASO/PHIP arrangement compared to the costs under capitated HMOs. We learned that in 2008 during the PHIP period, when the Governor removed any financial risk from the HMOs and the program ran as…
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