Government Affairs REPORT

Will reduce costs, increase quality and access
Positive alternative in play:
Businesses offer health care reforms

(Feb. 17, 2006) People in Connecticut say that jobs and the economy are their greatest concerns, according to a recent Hartford Courant/University of Connecticut Poll. Responding to that concern, the governor and legislative leadership have made improving Connecticut’s economy and prospects for job creation the top priority of the 2006 General Assembly.

Yet there are big obstacles in the way to getting that job done – specifically, legislative proposals such as the “pay or play” health care tax measure and a bill prohibiting workplace communications.

Both of those proposals will block job creation and discourage businesses from investing more in Connecticut. By rejecting those measures quickly, policy-makers can return the session’s focus to positive measures to improve the economy.

New package

Such as, legislators can consider a new package of health care reforms offered by the business community this week that will help increase affordability, quality and access to health insurance for the people of Connecticut.

Despite enduring many years of steeply rising health care costs, Connecticut’s employers are national leaders in providing health benefits. Overall in Connecticut, 5.8% of the state’s population is without health insurance coverage, according to the Office of Health Care Access.

Implement the package, said the business groups, and it will improve the prospects for even more people to afford quality health care in Connecticut.

Recommendations

Here are the group’s recommendations — and what they would accomplish:

Create a Health Care Strategy Board — Review state-run health care systems and required insurance benefits in private plans in Connecticut to look for ways to increase access, affordability and quality. The new board will aim to reduce costs associated with these health plans by:
• Reviewing all state-mandated benefits and providers to determine how these mandates collectively affect health insurance premiums
• Studying the best practices of the private medical sector,
• Providing for lower cost drugs for certain chronic illnesses, and
• Requiring state health plan participants to use community-based health clinics.

Allow flexible health benefit designs — Give consumers more control over their health care decisions by requiring the Department of Insurance to approve innovative designs for pharmacy benefits. Also, create health plans for individuals that provide for catastrophic coverage only.

Provide quality and cost data — Help consumers make more informed health decisions by requiring physicians to provide more details about their practices — including fees, cost estimates and details about services rendered — and create a statewide Physician Report Card.

Promote the use of e-medical records and billing — Reduce medical duplication and errors by offering grants to health care providers for instituting electronic records and billing systems.

Promote pay for performance practices — Achieve real savings in the health care system and reduce waste by establishing a state initiative related to evidence-based medicine and “pay for performance” systems (in which insurers pay providers if they can prove they are providing quality health care less expensively).

For more information about this package of health care reforms, contact CBIA’s Eric George at georgee@cbia.com or 860-244-1900.