Stats & Data
CT workers’ health benefits cost more, but growing more slowly and take less of our incomes
Download the report While total premiums, deductibles, and the workers’ share of premiums for Connecticut employee health coverage are higher than the US average, they have generally grown less quickly and consume less of our incomes than for other Americans from 2010 to 2019. Connecticut employer health coverage total premiums, employee share of premiums, and…
Read MoreICER seeking members for New England evidence review group
The Institute for Economic and Clinical Review (ICER) is seeking nominations for new members to the New England Comparative Effectiveness Public Advisory Council (New England CEPAC). The Council includes leading clinicians, patient and consumer advocates, methodologists, and health economists. The group holds public meetings three to four times per year to discuss evidence reports on…
Read MoreState seeking public input on 2025 health improvement plan, they are really listening
After months of the Dept. of Public Health has finalized their draft plan to set goals and strategies to improve the health of all Connecticut residents by 2025. The ambitious, detailed plan focuses on access to healthcare, economic stability, healthy food and housing, and community strength and resilience. Metrics include suicide rates, obesity, overdose deaths,…
Read MoreCTNJ ANALYSIS | On Healthcare, Candidates Focused on Public Option, Medicare For All, Drug Prices
This year, Connecticut candidates running for office during a global pandemic and a harsh recession had thoughtful, well-informed answers to CTNewsJunkie‘s tough healthcare questions. One said, “The impact of the pandemic has brought the need for affordable health care into even sharper focus. Many people lost their health insurance when they lost their jobs .…
Read MoreConnecticut healthcare employment coming back
Download the report Like other Connecticut workers, healthcare employment was hit hard by the pandemic in March, according to data from the CT Department of Labor. While the pandemic sharply increased demand in a few healthcare sectors to care for COVID patients, other sectors declined as people and providers delayed non-COVID care. But that is…
Read MoreCost Cap underservice monitoring plan is very weak, puts people at risk
Download the report This week, the Office of Health Strategy (OHS) unveiled their plan to monitor for unintended consequences of their plan to cap healthcare cost increases. OHS acknowledged in the plan that the Cap “may cause providers to reduce provision of necessary healthcare services so as not to exceed the benchmark.” Only a very…
Read MoreCT Medicaid eligibility and service decisions benefit members but also the state budget
It may be counter-intuitive but, despite our high incomes, Connecticut’s generosity in eligibility and provider rates means the federal government provides more support to our program than other states. Medicaid is jointly funded, and administered, by both federal and state governments. Federal funding is highest to states with the lowest per capita incomes. As a…
Read MoreHas MA’s cost cap worked? Should CT copy it?
Download the report The latest reports (here and here) on Massachusetts’s first-in-the-nation cost cap project raise questions about whether it has worked. Since the cap was implemented in 2013, consumer costs are growing faster than overall healthcare, inflation, or incomes. Despite almost eight years under their cost cap, Massachusetts’s out-of-pocket costs and premiums have grown…
Read MoreCT hospital uncompensated care below US average, varies between hospitals, no relation to profits
Read the report According to the state’s latest report, Connecticut hospitals provided totaled $806 million in uncompensated care last year, up 5.3% from 2018. Uncompensated care is the total of charity care, provided to needy patients that hospitals never expected to be reimbursed, plus bad debt, care provided that patients couldn’t or wouldn’t pay for.…
Read MoreMedian income CT residents squeezed between rising insurance premiums and inadequate subsidies
A new CMS analysis finds that between 2015 and 2019, US insurance premiums rose while enrollment in insurance exchanges went down. The report found that 85% of the drop in enrollment was in unsubsidized coverage. People with incomes below 400% of the federal poverty level ($51,040 for an individual, $86,880 for a family of three)…
Read More