Senate Leadership
June 7, 2006
Blumenthal Backs Senator Looney's Call Not to Negotiate Rate Increases for Medicaid MCOs Until They Open Their Books
AG assures no legal problems or service interruptions with strategy to force accountability for taxpayers' money
State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, in a letter to Governor Rell, says there should be no legal concerns or service interruptions if the governor heeded Senate Majority Leader Martin M. Looney's (D-New Haven) call to hold no negotiations on payment increases to Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) until those organizations open their books to public scrutiny on how they spend the nearly $700 million a year they currently receive in taxpayers' money. Despite two decisions by the Freedom of Information Commission, the MCOs' expenditures of public money remain secret.
On May 25, Sen. Looney wrote to Gov. Rell asking her to use the current negotiations between the Department of Social Services and the MCOs for increased payments as leverage to force the MCOs to be accountable for how they spend taxpayers' money.
Attorney General Blumenthal has now written to the governor backing Sen. Looney's position. "Contrary to your spokesperson's public comments that 'there may be legal and service problems' with Senator Looney's proposal, I assure you that no such legal problems exist and that the MCOs are contractually prohibited from causing or threatening service interruptions as a means of extracting rate increases," Attorney General Blumenthal wrote the governor.
Sen. Looney said now that the governor's concerns have been allayed, she should act immediately to force the MCOs to open their books so there is transparency and accountability for the expenditure of taxpayers' money. "Accordingly, I urge you to instruct both DSS and the Office of Policy and Management that, as long as the MCOs are going to challenge their obligation to disclose under the FOIA how the taxpayers' money is being spent under their state contracts, these two agencies, while negotiating for repayment of the post-January 1st overpayments, are forbidden from granting any cost of living increases in the MCO's capitated payments," he said.
Both Sen. Looney and Attorney General Blumenthal noted that Sen. Looney's plan is consistent with the governor's stated position on the issue. "Connecticut residents have a right to know how their taxpayer dollars are expended, even in the case where services are provided through contractual arrangements. Indeed, there must be transparent understanding of how these monies are spent in order to assure the public that their tax dollars-which total $600 million-are providing access to quality and timely health care services for our needy residents," Gov. Rell wrote in a letter to state Department of Social Services Commissioner Michael Starkowski on August 25, 2005.
"The governor has stated her position on this important issue, now she should back up the talk with action and use this leverage to force the MCOs to show what they are doing with the taxpayers' money," Sen. Looney said.
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Senator Williams’ Larry Cook |
Listing of Leadership’s recent press releases. |
Senator Looney’s Larry Cook |
