Biz lobby, health insurers push back against public option

HBJ File Photo Connecticut state Capitol in Hartford.

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By Joe Cooper

A coalition including Connecticut's largest business lobby and a health insurance trade group launched a campaign Monday to curtail efforts in Connecticut to create a government-run health insurance option.

The initiative, known as "Insurance Matters to Connecticut," serves as an advocacy arm for health insurers, businesses and taxpayers to express their concerns about how public-option health plans proposed in the legislature could threaten healthcare jobs and "destabilize" the private insurance market, in addition to creating lofty startup costs.

The coalition debuts as several proposed bills look to establish a government-operated insurance model in Connecticut. One public option proposal would establish a public health insurance option for businesses and nonprofits with 50 or fewer employees next year. The Office of the Comptroller would administer the plan.

Proponents say the program would provide a lower-cost health insurance option to small businesses and individuals by allowing them to tap the state's health plan.

The Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA), the Connecticut Association of Health Plans, several chambers of commerce and the Connecticut Retail Merchants Association (CRMA) are opposing that measure and others like it.

The opposition argues public-option health plans undercut the private sector by subsidizing comptroller program rates with taxpayers dollars and overextend state budget liabilities while the state struggles to address its $2 billion deficit in the upcoming budget.

It also undermines, they say, the $32 million invested each year in the health insurance exchange by supplying a competing product under the Office of the Comptroller.

"There is every reason to believe that state government lacks the expertise to handle the oversight and management of risk and support for healthcare programs," Norwalk-based Operations Inc. CEO David Lewis said in a statement.

"A focus on other business-friendly initiatives -- ones that are less complex to address and more assured of a positive impact -- is what is needed to ensure that Connecticut truly develops a reputation for supporting small businesses."

CBIA CEO Joe Brennan said government-run health plans do not address the underlying issues with healthcare pricing. Instead, the proposals, he says, seek to shift costs among different ratepayers.

"Add to that the impact these proposals will have on a critical industry in Connecticut that's supporting tens of thousands of jobs and you have a bad idea that should not go forward," said Brennan.