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May 22, 2019

Health insurers, biz lobby ramp up fight against public option

health insurance public option

Connecticut’s health insurance industry is again touting its economic impact hoping it will get some policymakers to back off their support of a state-administered public health insurance option.

The lobbying push on Tuesday surfaces days before Democratic supporters of a public option plan to roll out a new version of the proposal on Thursday at 11 a.m., according to Rep. Sean Scanlon (D-Guilford).

Details on what that new proposal might entail weren’t immediately available. 

An economic analysis released by the Connecticut Economic Resource Center Inc. (CERC), says the state’s health insurance industry in 2018 generated an estimated economic impact of nearly $15.5 billion and supported more than 40,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Rocky Hill-based CERC said more than $11.2 billion of this impact was generated by in-state health insurance carriers, agencies and brokerages, and nearly $4.3 billion was driven through independent secondary activities. 

The Insurance Matters to Connecticut coalition, comprising the Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA), several chambers of commerce and the Connecticut Association of Health Plans (CTAHP), which represents some of the state’s largest insurers, said the report shows the vitality of the state’s private health industry and should steer people away from backing a government-run health insurance plan that would reduce choice, raise costs and lead to a loss of jobs.

Health insurance data used in CERC’s report were based on numbers provided by CTAHP and its member carriers, including Aetna, Cigna, Anthem, ConnectiCare, Harvard Pilgrim and UnitedHealth Group.

Steve Jewett

“There are 25,000 good paying health plan-related jobs in the Hartford region that are being recruited by other states,” said Steve Jewett, a spokesperson for the coalition, who is also a managing partner for Hartford public relations firm McDowell Jewett Communications. 

“As a state, we need to stay competitive and support the growth of the industry here, which includes pushing back against legislation that says government-run insurance is a better model,” Jewett said.

CBIA CEO and President Joe Brennan, who oversees the state’s largest business lobby, said a public-option model “poses a significant risk” to the state’s economy, estimating its implementation could cost 5,000 private-sector jobs and $1.6 billion in annual economic output.

According to the current public option proposal, billed as the Connecticut Option, the state would create a public health insurance plan for small businesses and nonprofits with 50 or fewer employees by 2021. 

Most Democrats, patient advocates and other proponents of the state-run healthcare option argue the program would create greater competition and incentive for carriers to lower prices, giving small business owners an alternative to costly commercial plans.

lembo public option
Photo | Contributed
Comptroller Kevin Lembo

State Comptroller Kevin Lembo, who supports a public option and would administer the program, in written testimony on the proposal said a public option for small businesses, which employ half of the state’s workforce, or more than 700,000 people, would drastically increase the number of insured workers in state. 

Less than half of small businesses in Connecticut offer health insurance benefits to their employees, representing a 26-percent decline since 2008, Lembo said, citing data from the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

He said the plan would spur economic growth by attracting new workers who would be able to tap the state employee health insurance pool.

"​The private insurance market has failed Connecticut small businesses. Inaction is no longer an option,” Lembo said in a statement Wednesday. “This bill is the direct result of conversations with hundreds of small employers who are begging for relief from high costs, access to benefit packages that will help them retain skilled workers and health coverage that will protect the well-being of their employees and their families. "

The measure has moved out of committee and could be voted on in the General Assembly before this year’s legislative session ends June 5.

This story has been updated

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1 Comments

Anonymous
May 22, 2019

Here are the current rates for The Partnership plan that municipalities can buy into. My Town's Board of Ed just did this and their rates went up by at least 4 million dollars. No idea why they would leave a self-funded plan and pay these outrageous rates. If this is affordable to small business let them have at it. The only small businesses that will enroll in the public option is if all their employees are over age 60. Who will shoulder the cost when the public option blows up. You guessed it, the taxpayers will.
The State thinks they are shaking up the market but i heard they they renewed their Prescription benefit plan with CVS/Caremark. Now that company is definitely part of the problem.
Jul. 1 - Sept. 30, 2019 rates
Single - $914.97
Employee +1 - $1965.90
Family - $2403.78

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