Health Coverage
ICER fair access report finds improvements but problems with transparency
ICER’s third annual Barriers to Fair Access report found that most prescription drug coverage policies met fair rules for patient access. This is an improvement over previous years suggesting that transparency and public sunlight works. But the report also found that policies needed more transparency and are too complex. Policies on which patients are eligible…
Read MoreBook Club: We’ve Got You Covered
I wasn’t looking forward to reading yet another book promoting yet another idea to solve America’s broken healthcare system. But it’s my job, so I dove into We’ve Got You Covered: Rebooting American Health Care by Liran Einav and Amy Finkelstin. I’m a convert now – mostly. The first half of the book is the…
Read MoreCT commercial insurance enrollment down 5%; several possible explanations
Download the report Last year, total enrollment in Connecticut’s commercial managed care plans was 1,666,972. That was down by 85,019 from 2021 at 1,750,904, according to the this year’s Consumer Report Card from the CT Insurance Department. The drop in enrollment was almost entirely from large group plans with over 50 members and spread across…
Read MoreHealthcare for CT residents with developmental disabilities speaker series – Webinar #2
Following up on the first webinar with national experts on healthcare access for people with developmental disabilities, the second webinar in the Fall Series will focus on Connecticut. It will be Tuesday, October 3rd at 1:00pm and include results of a survey of state residents with lived experience and their experience of accessing healthcare and…
Read MoreCT Healthcare Explained — what’s next?
Hopefully, you’ve found our short Sunday Health Policy Minute emails informative and helpful. This is just the beginning of CT Healthcare Explained’s efforts to help make sense of our state’s unreasonably complex system. Hopefully, you’ve accessed the site resources including explainer videos, Basics, and Deeper Dives on the current seventeen topics. Consumers, policymakers, clinicians, students,…
Read MoreAnalysis: CT State Employee Health Plan Tied for Richest in US
Last year, Connecticut’s health plan for current state employees and their dependents covered 98% of the costs of that care, according to a new report by Georgetown’s Center on Health Insurance Reform. We are tied with Vermont for the richest state employee plan in the nation. Connecticut’s plan for state employees and dependents would qualify…
Read MoreReport estimates public coverage not available for 56,000 CT noncitizen residents next year
A new report by the Urban Institute estimates that 67% of Connecticut’s uninsured noncitizen residents won’t be eligible for Medicaid, CHIP, or health insurance exchange tax credits (AccessHealthCT) coverage next year, although they pay taxes. Most noncitizens with insurance coverage are covered through employment. Without expansions of eligibility, 56,000 Connecticut residents will remain uninsured next…
Read MoreCT low wage workers pay more but get less health benefits
Download the data Download the brief Connecticut workers with the least resources are charged more for less, when they are offered health benefits, according to a new analysis of 2021 federal Medical Expenditure Panel data. The lowest wage workers in Connecticut are less likely to be offered health benefits, are offered less generous plans, and…
Read MoreOp-Ed: HUSKY coverage for immigrants is the right, and the smart, thing to do
Immigrants, in Connecticut and across the US, are the most likely population to be uninsured. These are our workers, neighbors, and taxpayers. We’re all safer, healthier, and richer when everyone is covered. It the right thing to do for them, but if that’s not enough, it’s also the right thing to do for all of…
Read MoreOp-Ed: Things to like in the Governor’s budget proposal
This is new for me and I may be alone, but I found a lot to like in the Governor’s budget. This fall the administration must have been listening to complaints about their disappointing healthcare record. Their new budget proposal starts to turn that around, tackling the drivers of soaring healthcare costs – prices for…
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