The Last Thing the State Needs Is a Half-Billion in New Costs’

The Hartford Courant‘s editorial pages joined the growing list of Sustinet skeptics this week, noting that the scope, structure, and costs of state-run healthcare required Connecticut’s legislature to shelve the proposal.
“The last thing the state needs is nearly a half-billion dollars in new costs at a time when the Malloy administration and the General Assembly are trying to balance a budget that is $3.3 billion or more in deficit,” read the editorial. “To incur additional major costs would be irresponsible.”
The newspaper agreed with comments made earlier in the week by Gov. Dannel Malloy, who said “the cost is too big.”
Gov. Malloy’s comments followed the release of a report from the non-partisan Office of Fiscal Analysis, which estimated that Sustinet would cost hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer dollars.
As the Courant summarized: “Mr. Malloy’s concerns and questions about SustiNet are soundly based. The legislation — it has passed three committees and has three to go — should be put on hold until its costs and its need have been well established.”