Health Care Bills On Their Way To Gov.’s Office
by Christine Stuart | May 31, 2009 12:08 PM
Posted to Health Care
| State Capitol
During a rare Saturday session, the Senate gave final passage to two health care reform measures which would change how health care is financed and delivered in the state.
One bill would allow small businesses, nonprofits, and municipal employees join the state employees health insurance pool. The other bill called SustiNet would create a nine-member board of directors, three task forces, and four advisory committees that will make recommendations to the legislature by Jan. 1, 2011. The ultimate goal of the board will be to recommend a health care plan that guarantees every resident in the state has health insurance.
While Democratic lawmakers and advocates applauded the passage of the bills, it’s still unclear whether Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell would sign either bill.
On May 20th when the bills were up for debate in the House Rell’s Budget Secretary Robert Genuario came up to the Capitol press room to voice his concerns over both bills. Click here to read our previous story which outlines the administration’s concerns over the two proposals.
Health care advocates will turn their lobbying efforts toward Rell in the next few weeks as the bill makes its way to her desk.
“Few elected leaders ever get such a perfect opportunity to enact major reform,” Juan A. Figueroa, president of Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, said Saturday in a press release. “The House, the Senate, and the people of Connecticut have delivered one such defining moment to Governor Rell.”
Brenda Kelley, executive director of Connecticut’s AARP said in a press release that her organization, “commends the Senate for their passage of SustiNet (H.B. 6600) and the Connecticut Healthcare Partnership (H.B. 6582), which in conjunction, will expand access and improve the affordability of health care for Connecticut residents.”
“SustiNet will ensure Connecticut continues to be a national leader in the care of its most vulnerable and by lowering skyrocketing health care costs, will help put our economy back on solid financial footing,” Kelley said. “We urge the Governor to waste no time is signing this landmark legislation. Connecticut’s more than 300,000 uninsured residents have waited long enough.”
While debating the measure on the floor of the Senate, Sen. Jonathan Harris, D-West Hartford, said, “We already have universal health care in Connecticut, but it’s not working. It’s sick care. It’s the ER.”
“People who can’t afford or don’t have health insurance don’t take care of themselves, and when they get sick they end up in the hospital emergency room with their bills paid for by the taxpayers of Connecticut,” Harris said. “This Sustinet plan addresses cost, quality, access and coverage, and it does so in a more humane, more efficient, and more cost-effective manner than any other proposal to date.”
The SustiNet bill passed the Senate Saturday 23-12 and the pooling bill, also known as the Health Care Partnership bill passed 21-12.
Comments (16)
Posted by: iBlogWest Hartford | May 31, 2009 3:20 PM
This is from a statement just put out by the independent business group, "Small Businesses for Health Care Reform:
"We congratulate the state Senate for passing historic health care legislation that will allow the state's small business to survive the economic downturn -- and drive the state's economy forward."
"Connecticut can't have a healthy economy without an affordable, quality health care system. The majority of new jobs - 80 percent - are created by small businesses, which are disproportionately affected by skyrocketing health care costs. Small business owners are desperate for more affordable choices for health care. We want and need healthy workers. But since 2001, 16 percent of us have had to eliminate health benefits. If we have fewer than 25 workers, they are twice as likely to be uninsured as those in larger firms."
"SustiNet gives us that choice we need. We have studied SustiNet and know that it addresses our concerns and provides quality health care in a sustainable way. That's no surprise to us -- small businesses were involved with the development of SustiNet from the get-go, providing ideas, insight and feedback."
"And SustiNet will save individuals and businesses $1.75 billion annually through increased competition and efficiency."
"Our message to Governor Rell, who will soon have SustiNet on her desk for signature, is simple: Connecticut's broken health care system is killing job growth and killing our livelihoods."
"We need an affordable choice like SustiNet, and we need it now."
Posted by: JohninGreenwich | May 31, 2009 3:58 PM
One point Republicans raised was that the bill didn't call for setting up any reserve to pay the claims they'll immediately face under the pooling proposal. The Democrats didn't seem to think that necessary. I wonder if they realized that as they were debating that bill, the State had to cut the ConnPACE plan because of budget problems and said they change would be effective at least until the buget is passed. What will happen to people insured by the State next year when they are again late with the budget (adjustments)? Will their insurance just be dropped? If the State can do this to its elderly and disabled, watch out, working people insured by the State are next.
Posted by: meridenite | May 31, 2009 7:10 PM
On all the blogs I have read about these two bills has anyone at any time addressed the cost of these two bills. Harris did say either the cost or how we will pay for them will be addressed later.
Posted by: christine | May 31, 2009 9:20 PM
Meridenite, There is no cost to the bill that passed because any cost would have tanked the proposal. It creates a nine-member board of directors, three task forces, and four advisory committees that will make recommendations to the legislature by Jan. 1, 2011. It's not the original version of the bill, it's a stripped down version.
Posted by: duck for the shoe | May 31, 2009 10:06 PM
JohninGreenwich--
The pooling bill includes provisions permitting the comptroller to take steps to mitigate risk, including consulting with a healthcare actuary, purchasing stop-loss coverage, and building up a reserve.
Posted by: Paul | June 1, 2009 10:16 AM
Meridenite,
Good question! There have been no *real* discussions about the cost of the Sustinet program. You will see reference to the 1.7B saved annually, but that is only in the fifth year of the program and that number does not take into account the multi-year startup costs of the largest healthcare implementation in Connecticut's history. And that is not done for free. For example, how much will it cost to administer and pay Sustinet claims? How much will it cost *every* physician to use electronic medical records - a nice little unfunded mandate? How much will it cost to run the administration of Sustinet - don't you need a place to call when you have a problem/issue?
I think it's reasonable to ask why the Sustinet folks and their supporters are so afraid to have a real discussion regarding costs. Answer: because the truth would cripple the program before it starts. Of course, that will not stop iBlog from writing one of his witty posts with the 'we need it now' tagline or deflecting to some other issue. He doesn't know the costs either. The taglines and soundbites are great and fun to read but a frank, truthful discussion, in light of today's economic reality, would be better.
Posted by: iBlogWest Hartford | June 1, 2009 12:41 PM
Paul! So good to see that familiar handwriting on my monitor screen (oops, my bad: that was humor meant to avoid truthful discussion. Slipped out.)
Let's be Frank, Paul. You will never concede a single point to anything I say. Never have, never will. Maybe I'm that stupid, maybe you're that stubborn, who knows why. And life is way too short to revisit dead ends.
I do have one question, though: When last we talked, I urged you to take all the questions that you felt were not being answered about SustiNet, call Universal Health Care Foundation, and ask them directly of their policy staff. Seemed to me like the pretty obvious thing to do, for anyone who really wants answers.
SOOOOO - how did that call go? Were they able to address your concerns? Were they pleasant? How did they answer the questions you are asking again today? (seem mostly like the same ones you were asking before . . .) Were they "afraid to discuss costs" with you?
(AND I'm sure you're the kind of honorable person who would directly contact the SustiNet folk before claiming that they are "afraid to have a real discussion." Otherwise, you'd come of looking pretty lame . . . eh?)
Looking forward to hearing what you learned!
One last bit:
For anyone who cares about health care reform, affordable coverage, and quality health care: As reported in every major newspaper in the state, the bill passed Saturday has no fiscal note with it because there are NO costs associated with it. House Bill 6600 creates a nine-member "SustiNet Health Partnership Board of Directors" that must do implementation planning for coverage, costs, and delivery system reform -- and report these recommendations to the legislature in January 2011.
No money can be spent without further legislative approval.
Cheers, all!
Posted by: ACR | June 1, 2009 12:51 PM
>>Let's be Frank, Paul.
Make up your mind; do you want Paul to be Frank?
Why?
What's wrong with his being Paul?
Honestly, can't you leave anything alone?
Posted by: iBlogWest Hartford | June 1, 2009 12:57 PM
Didn't RCA go out of business YEARS ago??
Posted by: Paul | June 1, 2009 1:51 PM
iBlog,
I'll answer your one question: I did call - not that you'll believe me. I also emailed. What a shock! No response.
I have conceded many points to you. Here is one: I'm *for* universal healthcare. The fine print: it must be affordable. Without the details, I can't say Sustinet is affordable. And, I'm not sure why you feel you can. How can you?
Posted by: iBlogWest Hartford | June 1, 2009 3:29 PM
Darn! You called and emailed and no response? Bummer City USA!
I'm curious. What number did you call? Who did you leave a message with? Let's embarrass them by publishing their names. DID you leave messages? Did you call more than once? And who did you email? And you got no reply? Did you try again?
Sorry, Paul, I'm having a hard time believing that a smart, hard-nosed blogger like you could NOT get through at all to a public foundation with two web sites, a very easy phone number to remember (203-639-0550), and more than a dozen email addresses - all listed on their web sites.
So - forgive me - I'm thinking it didn't happen as you described . . .
And now you want ME to do all the work for you?? Like I said, dead ends harsh my groove (or something like that).
Oh, and BTW - I don't recall your conceding anything to me about "universal health care." You came IN already saying you support universal health care.
And of COURSE you do. EVERYONE does. (Oh well - everyone SAYS it, anyway.) It's like saying you support peace or friendship or peaceful, friendly puppies.
Why, even the high-priced lobbyists/insurance salesmen at the CBIA "say" they support universal health care!
Doesn't cost a dime to say it, does it?
But they (and you?) will never walk the walk . . . as we both well know. You'll just keep throwing more obstacles in everyone ELSE'S paths.
While Connecticut residents get sick and die when they shouldn't have to.
Really, really sad.
Posted by: Jame D. | June 1, 2009 3:39 PM
Paul,
Weren't you going to get back to us with your OWN thoughtful, affordable solution to the state's health care crisis?
It says so right here in my notes . . .
AND you were going to provide us all with "A list of some of the many companies you say have been forced out of Connecticut by tax increases."
Now, I'm no teacher -- but I'd STILL say that that these assignment are WAY overdue. Tsk Tsk Tsk.
Posted by: Martha H. | June 1, 2009 9:50 PM
Check out Governor Rell's great new health care video, at: http://tinyurl.com/kkvyme
Posted by: Patrick Sullivan | June 3, 2009 11:35 AM
I covered a presentation made by SustiNet proponents at Salisbury Town Hall back in early April.
The lady doing the bulk of the talking said the start-up cost was $950 million, but quickly added that the savings would more than cover it.
(How, exactly, she didn't say.)
Posted by: IBlogWestHatrtford | June 3, 2009 1:52 PM
Pat,
Now why would you go and post numbers when you don't quite remember them and don't quite know what they meant and aren't really sure who said them?
That's the way confusion and misinformation are spread and THAT's just not what you're about - I can tell.
Pat.
Posted by: Martha H | June 9, 2009 9:39 AM
Actually, a good friind of mine was at a presenation last month about the governor's Charter Oak health care plan. She said that the presenter told the audience that Charter Oak was covering about 7,500 people at a cost of about $1.2 billiion a year. That seemed like a lot to her.