Search results for: cost cap
CT ranks high on dental health, but lots of room for improvement
It all depends on what you measure. Wallet Hub ranked Connecticut the fifth best state for dental health. Metrics include the cost of dental care, the percent of adolescents getting dental care, and dentists per capita. Connecticut ranked well on adult dental visits, dental pain rates for adults (we were the lowest on that), and…
Read MoreUpdate: Policy options to support competition and control healthcare prices
Download the fact sheet Download the updated resource list Healthcare service prices are the main driver of Connecticut’s rising health insurance premiums. The consolidation of hospitals and providers into large health systems has stifled competition, allowing prices to rise unchecked. Other states have taken action to protect competition in consolidated markets and it’s working. Connecticut…
Read MoreNew affordable coverage toolkit to help people enroll
There were 184,000 uninsured Connecticut residents last year. To help people find affordable, even no-cost, coverage, the CT Health Foundation has developed a user-friendly toolkit to help people enroll. Enhanced federal subsidies and the state Covered CT program are making good insurance coverage more affordable than ever, including no-cost options for many. Open enrollment in…
Read MoreMental health workforce swamped by need, what needs to happen
A few recent reports have raised alarms about whether our healthy system’s mental health capacity can meet the need, and what we can do about it. The need is great. A mid-September Household Pulse Census survey found that 361,729 Connecticut residents reported feeling anxiety nearly every day and 219,164 reported depressive thoughts nearly every day.…
Read MoreCT is 24th in public health funding
Connecticut has a chronic problem with underfunding public health. We aren’t alone, but we’ve done little to fix the problem. The pandemic should’ve made crystal clear the value of a strong public health surveillance and response system. Like all prevention, we have to fund it before we need it. In 2021, Connecticut ranked 24th in…
Read MoreMore doctors are moving to corporate and hospital employment, jacking up prices & new WI lawsuit
Movement of physicians from independent practice to hospital and corporate employment accelerated during COVID. By January 1st of this year, 74% of physicians in the Northeast were employed by hospitals or corporations according to a report by Avalere Health for the Physicians Advocacy Institute. Half (52%) of Northeastern physicians work for hospitals and 22% for…
Read MoreGood News — Senate passed SB-416 to lower healthcare prices
On Wednesday, the Senate voted 29 to 4 to pass SB-416, An Act Promoting Competition in Contracts Between Health Carriers and Health Providers, without amendments. The bill passed out of the insurance committee unanimously and received overwhelmingly positive feedback in the public hearing. Two lawsuits have been filed against Hartford Healthcare for anti-competitive conduct, driving up…
Read MoreOHS primary care committee sharply critical of agency’s plan
In this month’s meeting of the Office of Health Strategy’s Primary Care Subgroup, patient and consumer advocates joined insurers raising very strong concerns about OHS’s plans and capacity to implement the agency’s plan for primary care in Connecticut. OHS plans to double the share of Connecticut’s healthcare spending on primary care while tightly restricting growth…
Read MoreOHS committee considering dumbing down successful PCMH standards
Among other troubling plans, the Office of Health Strategy’s Primary Care Subgroup is considering four options to certify high-performing primary care practices for higher levels of reimbursement. The committee is deciding how to double spending on primary care while simultaneously capping healthcare cost growth. At their meeting this week, the committee of mainly primary care…
Read MoreGovernor’s consultant report recommendations for Medicaid savings are baseless
It’s not in the headlines but the biggest source of potential savings, $200 million, proposed by the Governor’s controversial report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to save money in state government to is to go back to failed Medicaid financial risk models. There are two problems with the proposal. First, the financial risk models don’t…
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