insurance
OP-ED: Be careful in making changes when the glass is half full
There is good news on Connecticut health spending – and we can use it. Analysis of new data has found, not surprisingly, that Connecticut residents spend a lot on healthcare. But the good news is that our average annual rate of growth, at 1.8%, was the ninth lowest among states from 2013 to 2019. We…
Read MoreGood news on CT healthcare costs
New data from researchers at the University of Washington on state per person healthcare spending finds that between 2013 and 2019, Connecticut’s costs grew at the ninth lowest level among states. We dropped from seventh highest in the US in 2014 to eleventh in 2019. Our growth rate was lower than nearby comparator states and…
Read MoreCTNJ Op-Ed: Insurers’ explanations for extreme rate increases don’t make sense
Connecticut’s health insurers are asking state regulators to let them increase premiums an average of 20.4%, far more than last year’s 8.6% request. Insurers in other states are asking for less than half as much. Connecticut insurers are blaming increased demand for services due to COVID backlogs, that deductibles aren’t keeping up with rising costs,…
Read MoreCovered CT opens no-cost health insurance coverage to adults
Friday, the state expanded zero-cost health insurance coverage to include childless adults through the Covered Connecticut program. The program covered parents and child caregivers starting last year, but now any Connecticut adult with qualifying income can enroll in zero-cost health insurance through Access Health CT. The state expects 40,000 people to qualify for the expanded…
Read MoreBook Club — Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgement
Noise – A Flaw in Human Judgement by Daniel Kahneman, Oliver Sibony, and Cass Sunstein, is long, so it sat on my bookshelf for awhile. But it’s worth the time. Noise is the variation in judgements that shouldn’t vary. Judges should give similar sentences in similar cases, underwriters should find the same expected risks from…
Read MoreCTNJ Op-Ed: Advice from an advocate for the next OHS Director
Op-Ed: Advice from an advocate for the next OHS Director This week the Lamont administration announced that Vicki Veltri will be leaving state service in a few weeks. She will be missed. Director of the Office of Health Strategy is a tough job. The cost of healthcare is straining every budget in the state, including…
Read MoreHow CT can save $162 million in healthcare waste
An analysis of Connecticut’s commercial insurance markets finds we spent $9.45 per person per month on wasteful low-value care in 2019, according to a new report by VBID Health. Of the $162 million total, $24.5 million was from patient out-of-pocket costs. Low-value care provides no or minimal benefit to patients and is an important driver…
Read MoreMost CT physicians take Medicare patients, but less than US average; implications for payment reform
At 84%, the large majority of physicians in Connecticut take new Medicare patients according to a new analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation, while 91% take new privately insured patients. The US averages are 89% for Medicare and 91% for privately insured new patients. The analysis was of non-pediatric, office-based physicians in 2015 and 2017.…
Read MoreCTNJ Op-Ed — Policymakers did little to lower healthcare costs this session
Healthcare costs featured prominently in CT News Junkie’s 2020 candidates’ survey. It’s very likely that candidates will hear the same concerns from voters again this year. Last year, policymakers accomplished little, and healthcare costs haven’t gotten any better since then. Incumbents will be asked what they did this year to provide some relief. Unfortunately, they…
Read MoreGood News — Senate passed SB-416 to lower healthcare prices
On Wednesday, the Senate voted 29 to 4 to pass SB-416, An Act Promoting Competition in Contracts Between Health Carriers and Health Providers, without amendments. The bill passed out of the insurance committee unanimously and received overwhelmingly positive feedback in the public hearing. Two lawsuits have been filed against Hartford Healthcare for anti-competitive conduct, driving up…
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