State Senator Jonathan A. Harris
March 13, 2008
Human Services Committee Seeks to Protect Children, Adults by Delaying Governor’s Planned HUSKY Changes
The legislature's Human Services Committee, led by its co-chairman, state Sen. Jonathan A. Harris (D-West Hartford), today passed a bill that seeks to protect the health and well-being of more than 300,000 Connecticut children, low-income parents and pregnant women by delaying for one year Gov. M. Jodi Rell's proposed changes to the HUSKY program, and by 'de-linking' HUSKY from Gov. Rell's Charter Oak Health Care Plan.
Under Gov. Rell's plan, everyone in the state's HUSKY program would be moved from their current healthcare provider network back to a managed care organization on July 1, 2008, which could mean that patients have been moved to three different primary care providers in six months. House Bill 5618 delays any move until July 1, 2009.
Last November, Gov. Rell unilaterally dismissed some of the MCOs running the state's HUSKY program and handed control of HUSKY over to the state Department of Social Services. In December, Gov. Rell combined the longstanding HUSKY program with her new Charter Oak Health Care Plan proposal. She then put the entire package of HUSKY and Charter Oak out to a public bid in January; bids are expected soon.
"While I have long been unsure of whether Charter Oak will work, I fully support the governor's effort to solve a small piece of the healthcare problem. If Charter Oak is such a good plan, it should be able to stand on its own and succeed. It doesn't need to be linked to HUSKY," Sen. Harris said. "I also don't believe that we should be switching people's health care every few months and running the risk of people losing their doctors or not being able to see a doctor in their area. This is an $800 million program. We must be thoughtful about this. Delaying implementation for one year will provide us with valuable data about which healthcare model works best and is most cost-effective for taxpayers. We will have the information we need to do better financial planning during next year's budget-making legislative session."
Sen. Harris also said serious questions that he and other members of the legislature have about the Charter Oak Plan have largely been ignored by the administration.
|
Senator Harris’ |
Listing of Senator Harris’ recent press releases and a Press Kit with official head shots and bio. |
Press Aide Laurence Cook |
