Health Coverage
State budget deal restores coverage for 4,000 HUSKY parents, a move toward quality-based payments, and insurance protections
Policymakers have reached a $43 billion state budget deal to cover the next two fiscal years, on-time before the end of the session. For health policy folks, there is a lot to like in the deal but a few notes of caution. The best part is a partial restoration of HUSKY parents’ eligibility cuts from…
Read MorePublic option gone but good pieces remain
Negotiations over a public health insurance option in CT have broken down but other good parts of the deal remain. Reportedly, there is a budget agreement to restore HUSKY eligibility for some of the 11,000 working parents cut in 2016. DSS reports found that the large majority of the low-income parents cut from HUSKY were…
Read MoreCTNJ: Better Public Option Bill Looks to Bigger Picture
Rising health insurance costs are crushing Connecticut families and small businesses. From 2008 to 2014 deductibles in our state rose 67% for families and 50% for small businesses. The Connecticut Option, Democrats’ newest public health insurance option bill, not only improves feasibility of the concept but also begins to address the foundations of rising health…
Read MoreAppropriations Committee passes their budget proposal — Still mixed news, but better
Tuesday, the Appropriations Committee passed their version of the 2019-2021 state budget on a party line vote. While they mainly agreed with the Governor’s proposal from February, they did improve in some areas. Good and better news – The committee agreed with the Governor not to cut eligibility for HUSKY parents or the Medicare Savings…
Read MoreDespite concerns, Medicaid buy-in study bill is voted out of committee
While testimony supporting the concept has fallen since last year’s version, on a party-line vote the Human Services Committee voted out bill 7339, which creates a study of public health coverage options, specifically mentioning a Medicaid buy-in. While strongly affirming the need for affordable options, in public and written testimony advocates and others raised concerns…
Read MoreCTNJ: Medicaid Buy-In Sounds Good But A Closer Look Finds Plenty of Risk, Little Potential
Insurance in Connecticut is expensive. Policymakers are desperately seeking options to provide relief for struggling families and employers. There are several good ideas floating around that could help, but the public option based on Medicaid is not one of them. Read more
Read MoreCTNJ: Public Option Discussion Moves Forward
Connecticut healthcare insurance premiums are expensive, pricing out too many individuals and businesses. This session, lawmakers are considering whether to create a public insurance option, accountable to government, to bring down costs. Yesterday, CT News Junkie’s second public policy forum at the Capitol explored the issue with policymakers and experts. Hear the discussion
Read MorePublic Option Forum – high expectations, big challenges
Legislators were warned that ideas that sound simple are rarely that easy at last week’s forum on building a public option to bring down CT’s high health insurance premiums. The forum by the Insurance and Human Services Committees brought in national experts to explore the concept. The idea is to create a non-profit, publicly-accountable insurance…
Read MoreCTNJ Public Policy Forum: Would a Public Option Help Connecticut?
The second CT News Junkie Public Policy Forum will be next Thursday, Feb. 21st at 10 am in Capitol Room 310. Connecticut healthcare insurance premiums are expensive, pricing out too many individuals and businesses. This session, lawmakers are considering whether to create a public insurance option, accountable to government, to bring down costs. Important questions…
Read MoreNew data mapping tool gives changes in uninsured rates by CT town
The CT Data Collaborative has entered new Census data into a mapping tool that gives, among other metrics, the percent of uninsured residents by town or Census tract over time. Two maps compare five-year uninsured rates by town/census tract from 2008-2012 to 2013 to 2017. The uninsured rate in most municipalities dropped between those time…
Read More