Connecticut Pushes Ahead on Health Care

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Connecticut became the latest state to pass legislation to revamp its health-care system, plowing ahead with a plan to cover uninsured residents despite budget pressures and congressional efforts to impose a comprehensive solution at the national level.

On Monday, Connecticut's Democrat-controlled legislature overrode Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell's veto to enact a universal-coverage law slated to go into effect by 2012. The bill envisions covering almost all Connecticut citizens and creating a publicly run health-insurance option for individuals and small businesses.

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The legislation aims to cover the roughly 300,000 Connecticut residents without health insurance. If federal overhaul legislation is passed, the state board will make recommendations about how to make Connecticut's program fit in with the national initiative within 60 days.

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/07/21/con...insurance-plan/

[dalegg 143]

Connecticut became the latest state to pass legislation to revamp its health-care system, plowing ahead with a plan to cover uninsured residents despite budget pressures and congressional efforts to impose a comprehensive solution at the national level.

On Monday, Connecticut's Democrat-controlled legislature overrode Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell's veto to enact a universal-coverage law slated to go into effect by 2012. The bill envisions covering almost all Connecticut citizens and creating a publicly run health-insurance option for individuals and small businesses.

...

The legislation aims to cover the roughly 300,000 Connecticut residents without health insurance. If federal overhaul legislation is passed, the state board will make recommendations about how to make Connecticut's program fit in with the national initiative within 60 days.

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/07/21/con...insurance-plan/

"Both supporters and opponents of the bill can look next door to Massachusetts for ammunition:"--

"Massachusetts’s universal health plan, long discussed as a possible model for the nation, is getting a $115 million haircut. Faced with lower revenues and a growing number of citizens who lost their jobs and their health insurance, the state didn’t have enough money to pay for insurance subsidies for needy residents under the current plan, the Boston Globe reports.

Under the biggest cut, low-income residents who are eligible for full subsidies under the program, but who don’t choose a health plan, will no longer be automatically enrolled. In all, the cuts are expected to trim 12% from the budget for the program, known as Commonwealth Care, which covers 177,000 people and was projected to grow to 212,000 next year.

Meanwhile, the state’s treasurer, a Democrat who may run for governor next year, told the Globe that the health plan may prove unsustainable.

“It’s a warning for the federal government as it looks to do something similar,” he said. “I’m not saying we can’t afford any of it, but it certainly doesn’t appear that we can afford all of it.”

Edited July 22, 2009 by dalegg