Connecticut

Health Policy rankings

Population	3,482,934
Number of insurance mandates	50
Death rate per 100,000	705.6
Percent of adults overweight or obese	55.20%
Percent of adults who have visited a dentist in the last 12 months	80.60%
Number of births (2004)	42,095

Health ownership rank	42
Government health care rank	16
Private health insurance rank	38
Medical tort rank	44
Provider burden of regulation rank	39

Sources

Policy ranks are from the U.S. Index of Health Ownership, published by the* Pacific Research Institute.
Health indicators are from State Health Facts, a service of the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Number of insurance mandates comes from Health Insurance Mandates in the States 2007 (PDF), a publication of the Council for Affordable Health Insurance.

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Friday, April 25, 2008

Heading to a Disaster in Connecticut

By John LaPlante

Categories: Connecticut

After I wrote a blog entry about a proposal in the Connecticut House to herd small business owners into health insurance plans for state employees, Linda Gorman (see the comments in the link above) noted a similarity to "Kentucky Kare," whose chief result might be summed up in the words "disaster ensued."

It looks like Connecticut is moving a step closer to disaster, with the House yesterday passing the proposal. (The headline in the Hartford Courant is warm and cuddly: "Connecticut House passes bill opening insurance to more people.")

Put aside the question of whether having insurance is as important as actually getting care when you need it (it isn't), is this a good idea? One problem is that it could lead to higher expenses for state taxpayers when companies bidding on the right to supply state workers with coverage recalculate their bids.

Eric J. George of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association identified an even more serious problem when he said "This is really the first step to single-payer," with all that implies for consumer (dis)satisfaction.

posted by John LaPlante
8:02 am
0 comment

Thursday, April 24, 2008

We're all State Employees Now

By John LaPlante

Categories: Connecticut

The Connecticut Legislature is debating an unusual way of helping small businesses obtain health insurance--make them state employees.

Actually, the proposal by Rep. Chris Donovan isn't to put small business employees on the payroll, but to let them buy into the health insurance plan of state employees. Local government employees would get that option, too.

Advocates of the idea claim that by expanding the number of people in the pool, it will lower costs. The companies that cover state workers aren't convinced, saying they reserve the right to recalculate rates upward should the idea pass.

This idea has some merit if you look at it very casually. But it also puts the state in the position of determining what a "proper" insurance policy looks like, even more so than is the case when it regulates what happens in the private market. When that fact is combined with the dynamics of the political process, problems loom, including yet another step towards politicizing all of life.

posted by John LaPlante
7:37 am
3 comments

Monday, January 22, 2007

Connecticut Plan is Solution in Search of Problem

"Charter Oak" Health Plan Inferior to Alternatives

By John LaPlante

Categories: Connecticut

M. Jodi Rell, governor of Connecticut, says that the "Charter Oak Health Plan" would come at "no cost to the state." But D. Dowd Muska of the Yankee Institute is skeptical, especially about claims that the ranks of the uninsured represent a failure of capitalism and markets.

"There is no true marketplace for health insurance," he writes. A large portion of the state's budget (30 percent) is taken up with healthcare expenses, the state imposes stringent restrictions on insurance that is sold, and a large chunk of total health spending is done through government.

Further, notes Muska, the proportion of the Connecticut residents without insurance is about half that of the national rate.

While Governor Rell calls for a stripped-down insurance plan, anything created or fostered through public officials will be subjected to lobbying that will soon lard up the plan with enough costs to make it out of the reach of those it is intended to help.