State approves controversial New Haven primary care move

Friday, the state Office of Health Strategy gave final approval Yale-New Haven’s application to move primary care for over 25,000 low income consumers out of neighborhoods and shift them to the Cornell Scott and Fairhaven health centers for payment purposes. Under the final agreement patients would still be cared for by the same YNHH primary…

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Join us: CT affordable housing conference features health/housing connection

Join us at Housing 2019, the 30th annual CT conference on affordable housing, to hear about collaborations in CT between housing and community health programs that are improving both. The conference is sponsored by the Affordable Housing Alliance of CT (formerly the CT Housing Coalition). At “Health and Housing: Learning from Each Other”, attendees will…

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Proposed federal rule would require hospitals to post negotiated rates

A new proposed federal regulation (called a “rule”) would allow consumers to compare negotiated service prices by hospital and by payer. These would be the real prices paid by insurers, both hospital and payer-specific prices, as well as gross prices. This information could be extremely helpful for consumers without insurance and those with high deductibles…

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Coincidence? CT spends little on primary care, and we have high ED, preventable hospitalization rates

A new analysis finds that Connecticut, at only 3.5% of our health care dollars spent on primary care, is last among 29 states studied. Not surprisingly, we also rank among the highest in ED visits, all hospitalizations, and in avoidable hospitalizations. The US average is 5.6% of health care spending devoted to primary care, well…

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Comments needed on federal proposal to erode medical debtors’ rights

The National Consumer Law Center is asking people who care to submit public comments on the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposed debt collection rule. Medical bills are the biggest cause of bankruptcy and the top reason for contact by collections. Unfortunately, that burden falls very heavily on Connecticut residents. Health insurance premiums for both…

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CT homelessness continues to drop but health challenges are serious

This year’s point-in-time count of homelessness in Connecticut finds the numbers are going down – that’s the very good news. This year the CT Coalition to End Homelessness found that on January 22nd, when volunteers fanned out across the state to count the homeless, the number was 3,033. That’s the lowest number since the survey…

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Public 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…

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YNHH transportation plan for controversial primary care shift troubling, concerns remain

Monday, Yale-New Haven Health System answered the state’s eighth set of questions about their controversial application with the Hill Health and Fairhaven Health Centers to move primary care for 25,000 mainly low-income New Haven area residents out of the current neighborhood sites to Long Wharf. Among many concerns voiced by patients, advocates and community leaders…

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CTNJ: 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…

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More questions for YNHH about controversial primary care proposal

Yesterday, the state Office of Health Strategy sent their eighth set of questions about the controversial application of Yale-New Haven Health System and their community health center partners to move primary care for 28,500 mainly low-income New Haven area residents out of the current neighborhood sites to Long Wharf. Among others, critical concerns have been…

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