The Universal Health Care Foundation unveiled their health care proposal today (full proposal here), a plan that they call “SustiNet” which would, according to the proposal’s executive summary:
SustiNet builds a new plan from health coverage already funded by Connecticut taxpayers. It merges state employees and retirees with HUSKY and SAGA1 participants into a self-insured2 pool. Three other groups can enter the pool:
• people without access to employer sponsored insurance, including sole proprietors and other self employed individuals;
• people offered employer sponsored insurance that does not provide affordable access to essential care; and
• and employers, starting with small businesses, nonprofits and municipalities, but ultimately including any employer in the state.
It does not, they stress, replace private coverage, but is designed to “stimulate competition” by leveraging the buying power of the state.
The foundation hopes legislators will pass the plan, and have sent copies to every member of the General Assembly. The foundation also says that if implemented over a five-year timeline, the plan would end up saving households and businesses $1.75 billion in 2014.
The plan is already drawing praise from some state figures, including gubernatorial hopeful Dan Malloy, who said in a release:
“When I introduced my Every Child Matters proposal in 2006, I can attest to the fact that my policy advisors and I looked to the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut to find a way to cover all of our citizens, and at the very least, our most vulnerable –children,” said Mayor Malloy. “I congratulate the Universal Health Care Foundation for providing the state with a new option that could potentially help Connecticut lead the way in providing the vast majority of residents access to high quality coverage.”
So okay, the plan is now out in the open, and the campaign to pass it has begun. In this deficit year, it may be a very hard sell. I suspect the plan’s backers will focus on the savings they are projecting the plan will bring about.
You can read more about the proposal and its unveiling at CT News Junkie.
6 responses so far ↓
I also blogged about the related rally tonightand the content of the proposal.
From the brochure:
The discussion to this point shows that SustiNet saves $1.7 billion for Connecticut’s households and employers as of 2014. At the same time, state spending increases by $950 million, for two reasons: the previously uninsured receive subsidies that help them afford coverage; and Medicaid and HUSKY provider payments rise to market rates.
Well, I guess now the legislators can implement this program and stop arguing about how to spend the large budget surplus!
What, there is no budget surplus?
I would be very interested to see where the doctors fall on this issue. I would guess there would be strong support given this…
One would think they would be squarely and strongly behind this proposal. It’s a win/win. More people get healthcare and doctors get paid more money.
Win-win? Where will the additional $950 million come from?
What does this mean? Anything over a co-pay of $x?
As an employer who offers and pays the bulk of the premiums for my employees, the one problem I always have with these proposals is the lack of hard numbers. It would be a lot more informative if they could provide typical premium numbers.
Win-win for the doctors, Jack Dobb.
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