Congressional staff not worried about defunding health reform

Health staff for CT’s delegation are not concerned about prospects of defunding national health reform – a great relief for policymakers across the states worrying about their responsibilities under the law. A lot of the funding is mandatory. In general, everyone has a great attitude about the constant stream of votes by the new majority…

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Health care reform – CT and national

While Republicans in Washington work to repeal national health reform, Connecticut’s Public Health Committee has raised the SustiNet bill – our state’s version of reform.

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Painless way to save $40 million in HUSKY

Our new policymaker issue brief outlines how moving HUSKY to self-insurance should save the state at least $40 million, without any changes in access to care. In 2008, under the PHIP/ASO model medical costs were actually lower than under HMO capitation the next year. Because the shift to self-insurance was sudden DSS was in a…

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Vermont pursuing single payer reform

Under Act 128 passed last year, Vermont is considering implementing a single-payer health care system for their state. The much-awaited consultants’ report outlining options was released Wednesday. One option is very similar to CT’s SustiNet plan. The report outlines the cost and quality pressures that led Vermont to consider a single-payer plan including fragmentation of…

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Rep. Courtney on health reform repeal debate

Our CT Health Policy Project Board member and longtime advocate for CT’s health care consumers, Rep. Joe Courtney argued persuasively on the floor of the House against the recent bill to repeal national health care reform. Unfortunately, he was not able to persuade enough of his colleagues to join him in voting no. To watch…

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CHCradio.com – Headlines and interviews with health policy leaders

Every Tuesday at 4:30pm CT’s Community Health Centers Inc. sponsors Conversations on Health Care, a fascinating series of radio shows including headlines and interviews with leaders across the health policy spectrum. Speakers have included Dr. Carolyn Clancy of AHRQ, Maureen Bisognano of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and Dr. Howard Koh, Assistant Secretary for Health…

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The final word – HUSKY ASO cost less than HMOs – or it should have

At Friday’s Medicaid Oversight Council meeting Mercer actuaries gave us the final comparison of the costs of the HUSKY program under the ASO/PHIP arrangement compared to the costs under capitated HMOs. We learned that in 2008 during the PHIP period, when the Governor removed any financial risk from the HMOs and the program ran as…

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Advocacy group financial ties to drug companies probed

The Wall Street Journal Blog is reporting on growing interest about drug company financial support for health care advocacy organizations. The latest report on funding from Eli Lilly found that only one in four groups that receive the funding disclose it on their website. The company admits that they fund groups that advocate in areas…

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Cthealthbook.org – new collection of resources

While you are home avoiding getting out to shovel, check out the updated www.cthealthbook.org. The site includes a collection of basics on CT’s health care environment. Health Policy 101 is a basics module created as a training tool for incoming CT Health Policy Project interns, volunteers and staff. Health Policy 201 includes 21 sets of…

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UConn Dempsey Hospital’s high use of controversial scans questioned

Patients at UConn’s Dempsey Hospital in Farmington are nearly ten times more likely to receive “combination CT scans” than at other CT or US hospitals; other CT hospitals’ rates are similar to the national average. In 2008 national rates for the higher intensity scans were 5% for chest scans and 19% for abdominal scans; at…

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