Pervasive uncertainty affects CT Health Reform Dashboard

July’s CT Health Reform Dashboard reflects growing uncertainty at the state and federal levels. If passed, Congressional proposals to replace the ACA will shift massive costs onto CT and result in a sharp drop in coverage. State budget cuts threaten current services and coverage. Nevertheless, DSS is doggedly forging ahead with a questionable payment experiment…

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Sen. Blumenthal holds third hearing on Senate ACA repeal bill

In response to public concerns, Sen. Richard Blumenthal will hold a third emergency field hearing on the Senate’s Better Care Reconciliation Act tomorrow, June 30th 10:00 to 11:30 am at the Hartford Public Library, 500 Main St. Earlier this week, CBO reported that the bill would make 22 million more Americans uninsured and cost state…

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Advocates document concerns with PCMH+ implementation

The Medicaid Study Group, a coalition of independent consumer advocates, have published an update on CT Medicaid’s new payment reform experiment, PCMH+, fact sheet and report. The program started January 1st with 137,037 members. Under the new shared saving payment model, large health systems (called ACOs in other states and programs), get half the health care savings…

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CBO estimates that 22 million more Americans will become uninsured by 2026 under the Senate’s ACA replacement proposal

  Thursday morning Senate leaders published their plan to replace the Affordable Care Act and modified it earlier today. The Senate proposal closely follows the bill that passed the House in May. According to today’s Congressional Budget Office’s report, the Senate bill would increase the number of uninsured Americans by 15 million next year and…

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New to the Book Club — Economic Ideas You Should Forget

The title alone pulls you in – Economic Ideas You Should Forget. Ideas and theories that everyone believes but aren’t true. 71 eminent economists and social scientists from around the world each contributed an economic theory that should be forgotten. Myths debunked include more choice is better, that economic growth increases well-being, and that CEO…

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Blumenthal holding second emergency field hearing on ACA repeal proposals

Senator Blumenthalhas scheduled an emergency field hearing in New Haven Friday to hear the public’s thoughts on federal proposals to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Monday’s hearing in Hartford drew over 200 people with standing room only who wanted to share their concerns. Senate leaders will not allow any official public hearings or…

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Report estimates AHCA would cut $5.9 billion in Medicaid funds to CT

Connecticut would lose $5.9 billion in Medicaid funding from 2019 to 2028 under the American Health Care Act passed by the House last month, according to a new report from the Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Connecticut would likely not be in a position to fill that funding gap with state funds.…

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New data finds CT leads nation in lowering Medicaid costs

New data from CMS actuaries finds that Medicaid per capita health care spending dropped 5.7% from 2010 to 2014, better than any other state. Of note, in 2012 CT Medicaid shifted away from capitated managed care organizations to run Medicaid. Unfortunately, the rest of the CT’s market is not performing as well as Medicaid –…

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Medicaid update – administrative conversion drives up call wait times

Friday’s Medicaid oversight council meeting focused on DSS’s conversion to ImpactCT, a new IT system to handle eligibility and enrollment. The hope is that moving more administrative functions online will streamline the process and reduce errors. Unfortunately, implementing the system is pulling staff away from their desks for 9 days of training, causing a sharp…

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CT insurers’ 2018 rate requests as much as 52% increase — public hearing, comment

As part of the health insurance rate review process, CT’s Insurance Department will hold a public hearing June 14th in Hartford on insurers’ double-digit rate requests for next year. In the morning, the hearing will address Anthem’s requests averaging 33.8% increases and affecting 35,000 policyholders. In the afternoon, the hearing will consider ConnectiCare’s average 17.5%…

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