The following message was issued to all Connecticut State Representatives on May 17, 2013:
The League of Women Voters of Connecticut strongly urges you to support Substitute S.B. 1026 (AAC An Adequate Provider Network to Ensure Positive Health Outcomes for Low-Income Residents). Essentially this bill would establish a commission to study obstacles to achieving an adequate health care provider network for Medicaid recipients and to recommend strategies to improve access to such providers and health outcomes for recipients across racial and ethnic lines (a concern to populations serviced by Medicaid).
The League believes that a basic level of quality health care at an affordable cost should be available to all residents. An adequate provider network is essential in order to provide a basic level of quality health care to those who are needy. A study that will address the education and concerns of providers (including the effect of rates of reimbursement) and at the same time investigates methods for improving health outcomes and reducing spending rates seems like a no-brainer.
We strongly urge you to support S.B.1026 and hope that you will vote to allow this study to proceed.
Respectfully submitted,
Naomi Schiff Myers
Health Care Specialist
League of Women Voters of CT
The League of Women Voters of Connecticut would like to express thanks to the leadership and members of the Appropriations Committee for providing funding in the Appropriations Budget necessary to fund the mental health services provisions included in Public Act 13-3, An Act Concerning Gun Violence Prevention and Children Services.
LWVCT supports comprehensive, community-based mental health systems for children and adults, which systems should include early detection and intervention with a range of services to facilitate care, treatment and recovery. The landmark bipartisan Gun Violence Prevention legislation adopted this month included notable mental health provisions intended to help individuals and their families overcome obstacles to accessing treatment and support, provisions based upon the work and recommendations of the Bipartisan Task Force on Gun Violence Prevention. Funding is necessary to make these improvements a reality.
Thank you for your support.
Sincerely, Alison Rivard, Social Policy Director, LWVCT
March 28, 2013
To Members of the Senate:
The League of Women Voters of Connecticut strongly urges you to support Substitute S.B. 1026 (AAC An Adequate Provider Network to Ensure Positive Health Outcomes for Low-Income Residents). Essentially this bill would establish a commission to study obstacles to achieving an adequate health care provider network for Medicaid recipients and to recommend strategies to improve access to such providers and health outcomes for recipients across racial and ethnic lines (a concern to populations serviced by Medicaid).
The League believes that a basic level of quality health care at an affordable cost should be available to all residents. An adequate provider network is essential in order to provide a basic level of quality health care to those who are needy, and a study that will address the education and concerns of providers (including the effect of rates of reimbursement) and at the same time investigates methods for improving health outcomes and reducing spending rates seems like a no-brainer.
We strongly urge you to support S.B.1026 and hope that you will vote to allow this study to proceed.
Respectfully submitted,
Naomi Schiff Myers, Health Care Specialist
League of Women Voters of Connecticut
March 7, 2013
To: Program Review and Investigations Committee
Subject : The League of Women Voters of Connecticut Supports H.B. 6517
The League of Women Voters of Connecticut urges you to support H.B. 6517 (AA implementing the Recommendations of the Legislative Program Review and Investigations Committee Concerning the Insurance Department's Duties, Mental Health Parity Compliance Checks and the External Review Application Process). LWVCT supports comprehensive, community-based mental health systems for children and adults, which systems should include early detection and intervention with a range of services to facilitate care, treatment and recovery.
The League strongly supports requiring the Connecticut Insurance Department (CID) to review health insurance plans in order to make certain that they are in compliance with qualitative parity for all mental health services. We are dismayed that the Program Review and Investigations (PRI) Committee found that CID does not, in fact, check for qualitative
treatment compliance. As stated in the report, “Federal law forbids greater non-quantitative treatment limitations, unless appropriate guidelines require differently or the limiting standards were applied equally to behavior health and medical care. Yet, the insurance department does not check for plan compliance with this aspect of the federal mental health parity law.”
H.B. 6517 would require the CID to select a method to check for compliance with both state and federal mental health parity laws and deserves your strong support.
Thank you for giving the League of Women Voters an opportunity to comment.
Respectfully submitted,
Naomi Schiff Myers and Alison Rivard
League of Women Voters of Connecticut
Submitted by Naomi Schiff Myers
I have given high priority and am following closely the following bills that are consistent with the League’s position:
Proposed H.B. No. 5511: AN ACT CONCERNING ELIGIBILITY TO PURCHASE HEALTH INSURANCE THROUGH THE CONNECTICUT HEALTH INSURANCE EXCHANGE.
The purpose of this bill is for title 38a of the general statutes be amended to specify that individuals with a family income greater than one hundred thirty-three per cent of the federal poverty level but not more than two hundred per cent of the federal poverty level (FPL) and who are not eligible for a federal government-sponsored program are eligible to purchase health insurance through the Connecticut Health Insurance Exchange. We need to watch this bill because in 2014, as part of federal health reform, Connecticut will expand Medicaid to cover all adults earning up to 133 percent of the poverty level. For many Connecticut residents struggling to pay for insurance premiums, tax credits will help them pay premium costs in the Exchange. Federal tax credits will apply to individuals and families with incomes up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level ($92,200 for a family of four).
Proposed S.B. No. 39: AN ACT CONCERNING PUBLIC HEARINGS FOR LONG-TERM CARE INSURANCE RATE INCREASE REQUESTS. The purpose of this bill is to allow for public input when insurance companies require a long-term insurance premium increase of greater than ten percent.
Proposed S.B. No. 60: AN ACT CONCERNING A SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH CARE SYSTEM. The purpose is to create a unified health care system and reduce the cost of health care and health care coverage.
Raised S.B. No. 810: AN ACT REQUIRING THE INSURANCE DEPARTMENT TO CONSULT WITH THE CONNECTICUT HEALTH INSURANCE EXCHANGE FOR RATES OR AMOUNTS FOR HEALTH PLANS OFFERED THROUGH SAID EXCHANGE.
Raised S.B. No. 596: AN ACT CONCERNING THE DUTIES OF THE CONNECTICUT HEALTH INSURANCE EXCHANGE. The stated purpose of this bill is to direct the Connecticut Health Insurance Exchange to actively negotiate, on behalf of consumers, health insurance premiums with insurers for qualified health plans offered through the exchange.
According to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation’s January 2013 comparison of states who are creating Exchanges and have conditional approval, Connecticut will have a Quasi-governmental structure and will be an active purchaser (the term active purchaser includes negotiating with insurers). Massachusetts is also listed as Quasi-governmental and active purchaser. Utah, on the other hand, is listed as Operated by the State and as clearinghouse.
Types of Exchanges FYI: States can choose to have the exchange contract with all qualified health plans (clearinghouse) or states can choose to have the exchange contract with selected health plans and/or negotiate premium prices with health plans (active purchaser). For more information go to http://statehealthfacts.kff.org/comparemaptable.jsp?ind=962&cat=17
The way that the Connecticut Exchange will operate, and may be the reason why its proposal is currently considered to be an “active purchaser”, is the Exchange screens proposals from insurance carriers (currently there are nine proposals from potential carriers). Once carriers finalize their plans, they will begin filing and reviewing them with the Connecticut Insurance Department (CID). The CID must approve all forms and rates before a plan may be certified by the Exchange. Currently, CID regulates the majority of all insurance products sold here in the state, including health insurance. With the Exchange emerging as a new marketplace for insurers to distribute their products, CID will play an active role in ensuring the quality of the plans available on the Exchange while overseeing the solvency, market conduct and product filings of the carriers that sell them. The CID representative is an ex-officio non-voting member of the Board of Directors of the Exchange.
I will closely follow S.B. 596 but did not testify at the Public Hearing on January 31.
*Note: I am following other bills whose priority may change from medium to high in the future.
Submitted by Naomi Schiff Myers, LWVCT Health Care Specialist January 1, 2013 In December, Connecticut received conditional approval from the federal government for its plan to develop a health insurance exchange, making it one of six states to achieve the designation. The other states that received conditional approval are Massachusetts, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and Maryland. In all, 14 states and the District of Columbia have applied to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to run state-based exchanges. The CT Health Insurance Exchange is a quasi-public agency that will develop and run the exchange. It has chosen its official new name to be "Access Health CT". The work is being funded with more than $100 million in federal grants. By 2015, the exchange must be financially self-sustaining, and the exchange staff is exploring funding options. The Exchange will operate as an online store for individuals, non-profit groups and small businesses to buy health insurance as part of federal health reform. Health plans sponsored by insurance companies will compete and there will be different levels of coverage. The fees charged are based on modified adjusted gross income with subsidies available. It will begin selling plans next fall, and they will take effect Jan. 1, 2014. Many people are expected to be eligible for federal subsidies to help pay for the coverage. In 2014, as part of federal health reform, Connecticut will expand Medicaid to cover all adults earning up to 133 percent of the poverty level. The federal government will pay the full cost of covering the newly eligible people for the first three years; after that, it will cover at least 90 percent of the costs. Most of the health plans are expected to be offered by private insurance companies. There is currently no public option – a state run basic health plan that could provide aid to parents of minor children who earn up to 185 percent of the poverty level who are now eligible for HUSKY coverage. Poor adults who earn too much for Medicaid would get federal subsidies to buy coverage through the state's exchange. That would likely require some premium and cost-sharing payments from the participants, whereas currently HUSKY costs members nothing. For more information go to http://www.cthealthpolicy.org/ and http://www.ct.gov/hix/site/default.asp The Exchange recently submitted an additional Level One grant application for funding to support the In-Person Assisters program. Navigators and In-Person Assisters (Assisters) will play key roles in executing the outreach efforts required for the Exchange to engage, educate, and enroll individuals in various health insurance options available to state residents. The Exchange will have a robust consumer assistance network that includes a vibrant Assisters Program (in addition to web-based and phone-based consumer assistance), and will refer individuals to these resources when available and appropriate. Funds from this grant award would be used to establish an In-Person Assisters program that would operate beginning with the open enrollment period in the fourth quarter of 2013. Also involved in health care reform in Connecticut is The SustiNet Health Care Cabinet and the Office of Health Reform and Innovation (OHRI). The Cabinet was established to advise Governor Dannel P. Malloy, Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman and the Office of Health Reform & Innovation on issues related to federal health reform implementation and development of an integrated health care system for Connecticut. SustiNet Cabinet members were appointed in September, 2011 and is composed of public, private and non-profit stakeholders. The Cabinet is chaired by Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman and its work is supported by the Office of Health Care Reform and Innovation (OHRI). OHRI is housed in Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman’s office and is managed by Jeanette DeJesus, Special Advisor to the Governor on Health Reform and Director, Office of Health Reform & Innovation.
Email Sent to Representatives in the State Legislature – April 30, 2012
The League of Women Voters of Connecticut urges your support for HB 5450 AA ESTABLISHING A BASIC HEALTH PROGRAM (BHP). The League is a statewide organization with approximately 1800 members. We believe that every Connecticut resident should have access to a basic level of quality health care at an affordable cost.
Every citizen deserves access to high quality health care that is effective, efficient, timely, and patient-centered. When citizens have access to basic health coverage--- the entire state reaps the benefits, including families, communities, small business, health care providers, and the economy. Expanded health insurance coverage provides and ensures the equity of Connecticut residents to needed health care.
The League endorses a Basic Health Program that is efficient and economical and provides coverage to persons under sixty-five years of age who do not qualify for Medicaid. Under this bill, adults with incomes between 133% and 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) will be covered by the BHP. Currently, an adult is eligible for HUSKY A if he or she is the caretaker relative of a child receiving HUSKY A and has income up to 185% of the FPL.
The League of Women Voters of Connecticut urges you to vote 'Yes" on HB 5450. Thank you for considering this request.
Respectfully submitted,
Donna Nickitas, Universal Health Care Specialist
League of Women Voters of Connecticut
To: Members of the Senate
From: Naomi Schiff Myers, Director Social Policy, LWVCT
Subject: Public Hearing Testimony: The League of Women Voters of CT Urges your Support of SB 877
The League of Women Voters of Connecticut urges you to vote for SB 877, AAC Mental Health Parity. This bill will simply bring Connecticut into compliance with the new federal mental health parity law and ensure the state’s ability to enforce it. While Connecticut’s mental health
parity law already benefits consumers with individual and group health insurance plans, the new federal law would also benefit those in large self-insured plans, Medicaid managed care plans, and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (HUSKY B). Prior to the parity
laws, most insurance plans put arbitrary and unequal limits and conditions on mental health treatment. These arbitrary limits and discriminatory practices cost more in the long run, harmed lives, and put many families into unfair financial hardship and even bankruptcy.
The League believes that every resident should have access to a basic level of health care at an affordable cost and supports comprehensive, community-based mental health systems for children and adults. These systems should include early detection and intervention with a range of services to facilitate care, treatment and recovery. We strongly urge your support for SB 877.
Thank you.
Naomi Schiff Myers
Director of Social Policy
League of Women Voters of Connecticut
1890 Dixwell Avenue
Hamden, CT 06514
CGA Public Health, Human Services and Insurance and Real Estate Committees
Public Hearing February 14, 2011
Support for: H.B. 6305 AN ACT CONCERNING IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SUSTINET PLAN
Comments Prepared by Donna Nickitas, Naomi Schiff Myers and Christine Horrigan
Submitted by Cheryl Dunson, LWVCT President
On behalf of the League of Women Voters of Connecticut, I would like to thank you for giving
us the opportunity to comment on HB 6305 AAC Implementation of the SustiNet Plan.
The League believes that every Connecticut resident should have access to a basic level of care
at an affordable cost that promotes health and prevents disease. We also believe that health care
services should be equitable, efficient, and economical. Better health care means an improved
quality of life and function. When residents are healthy, they lead productive lives and contribute
to the economic health of the state. For these reasons, the League supports the implementation
of the SustiNet Plan as outlined in HB 6305.
The proposed SustiNet Plan offers a coordinated and complete health insurance program that,
when phased-in over time, will provide health care coverage to state employees, Medicaid
enrollees, HUSKY Plan A and Part B enrollees, HUSKY Plus enrollees, municipalities,
municipal-related employers, nonprofit employers (like the League), and small employers.
Currently coverage to these groups is administered by separate agencies (e.g., state employees
vs. HUSKY) or not provided at all (e.g., nonprofit employers) thereby losing the cost-saving
benefits of a large pool. SustiNet will also save money by leveraging the state’s purchasing
power, reducing duplication and waste, reforming incentives and payments to health care
providers, and maximizing federal dollars. The League is pleased that beginning in 2014, the
SustiNet Plan will also be offered as an option on the new health insurance exchange and that
individuals and slightly larger employers will be allowed to join SustiNet. It is measures like
these that encourage small businesses to protect the health of their employees and individuals to
invest in their own well-being.
The League understands that the SustiNet Plan will attempt to slow the growth of health care
costs, improve the quality of health care services and improve members' health outcomes
through innovative strategies and reforms. The League strongly recommends and endorses
SustiNet’s emphasis on preventive care and the use of patient-centered medical care by
implementing both primary care case management and patient-centered medical homes for all
SustiNet Plan members. A patient-centered medical home is a cost-effective model that
promotes care coordination, facilitates better monitoring of chronic health conditions and allows
patients to monitor and manage their own conditions.
We believe it is essential that the SustiNet Plan support and incorporate the use of health
information technology. An easily accessible electronic medical records system will lead to
greater access across the care continuum from primary care, acute care and long-term care
regardless of health care provider, thereby reducing medical errors and duplication of services.
Finally, the League supports the creation of the proposed SustiNet Plan Authority to implement
the SustiNet Plan as well as the establishment of the SustiNet Plan Consumer Advisory Board.
Together these bodies will provide the necessary oversight and accountability required to ensure
that state residents receive high-quality, well-researched health care that is effective, efficient,
safe, timely, and patient-centered.
The League is pleased that the SustiNet Plan streamlines the state’s health care spending and
implements innovative, cost-controlling measures while improving the quality of health care
services and expanding coverage. We strongly endorse and support the implementation of the
SustiNet Plan and urge you to vote “YES” on HB 6305. Thank you.
League of Women Voters of Connecticut · 1890 Dixwell Avenue-Ste 203 Hamden, CT 06514 · 203/288-7996
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