Search results for: cost cap
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…
Read MoreAdvocates ask CMS to intervene in HUSKY rate reductions
Two years ago, the state increased payment rates to providers in the Medicaid fee-for-service program and required that the HUSKY HMOs pay providers at least fee-for-service rates within the managed care program. The change in HMO contracts to require higher rates was included in the program’s federal waiver and capitation rates paid to plans were…
Read MoreSustiNet Board considers governance and structure recommendations
At today’s meeting the SustiNet Board considered three different structural options for the new SustiNet Plan. Options varied in whether the new SustiNet governing body will oversee or directly administer the plan, whether the SustiNet option will be a licensed state insurance product offered in the new state health insurance exchange, the relative roles of…
Read MoreMore health policy from New Orleans
A long day at the NASHP conference today. We heard about challenges facing states; the common theme was planning deep reforms on very short timelines with limited staff capacity and growing budget deficits. William Hazel, recently hired Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Services, pulled together the heads of departments to look for savings. When…
Read MoreNew Orleans health care – five years after Katrina
Yesterday, the NASHP conference in New Orleans started with a plenary session on the state of health care in the city. Things were not great before Katrina – the city was at the bottom of national list for health care access and outcomes. 80% of the housing stock was lost; health care institutions were devastated.…
Read MoreSurvey predicts employee share of health insurance to rise 12.4% next year
Hewitt’s annual survey of large US employers estimates health costs to be $9,821 per worker in 2011, up from $9,028 this year. While total costs are expected to rise 8.8%, workers’ share of that bill will rise 12.4%, continuing a trend of shifting more costs onto consumers. From 2001 to 2011, while total premiums will…
Read MoreCT insurers propose double digit rate hikes
Once again CT health insurance companies are asking the CT Insurance Department for permission to charge very large premium increases, more than 20% in many cases, according to the Hartford Courant. Predictably, insurers are blaming rising medical costs and national health reform. Members of CT’s Congressional delegation and the Attorney General are objecting. The largest…
Read MoreMore health policy at CSG/ERC meeting
Last week’s CSG/ERC annual meeting in Portland ME included talks by some health policy rock stars.Sen. Richard Moore, Senate Chair of MA’s Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, spoke in the Value to Volume panel. He described MA’s progress toward rewarding higher quality providers in the state employee health plan, using public reporting, and tiering…
Read MoreFrustrating eHealth privacy meeting
Today’s meeting of the CT Health Information Technology and Exchange Advisory Committee’s Legal and Policy Subcommittee was frustrating. I was asked to come to discuss the concerns I raised in testimony at their public hearing June 23rd about an opt-out privacy policy for health IT exchange in CT. The committee members at the meeting included…
Read MoreJudge denies parts of nursing home lawsuit
A federal judge has denied an injunction in the CT Association of Health Care Facilities’ lawsuit against the state, but the lawsuit is moving forward. The nursing homes had asked for an injunction to stop $300 million in cuts scheduled over the next two years; the state asked the court to throw out the entire…
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