Senate Leadership
March 26, 2007
Williams’ HealthFirst Connecticut Takes Major Step Forward
Backed by Senator Handley, Public Health passes Senate Bill No. 1
State Senate President Pro Tempore Donald E. Williams, Jr. (D-Brooklyn) today lauded the passage of his top legislative priority, Senate Bill No. 1, by the legislature's Public Health Committee. The bill contains major portions of Sen. Williams' HealthFirst Connecticut plan that will increase access to quality, affordable health care in Connecticut.
"This is a landmark bill and part of an effort to do what no other state has done-provide health care to everyone in the state, regardless of age or income," Sen. Williams said. "While we work to find the best possible way to bring about wholesale reform of the health care system in our state, Senate Bill No. 1 includes immediate action to cover more than 140,000 in the state currently without insurance and measures to ensure access to people who have insurance."
Senate Bill No. 1:
- Raises HUSKY income eligibility for parents and needy caretaker relatives.
- Establishes a multi-agency outreach plan for HUSKY kids and adults, including the development of online applications.
- Requires schools to provide information and outreach materials about HUSKY to all students at the beginning of each school year.
- Re-establishes continuous eligibility (12 months). Establishes a centralized unit to process HUSKY A and B applications. This is so that if someone applies for A, but is actually eligible for B (or vice versa), their application still gets processed, without additional bureaucratic channels.
- Raises State Administered General Assistance (SAGA) income eligibility and requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) to seek a federal waiver to get the population covered under Medicaid.
- Raises dental reimbursement rates significantly to increase access for both kids and adults.
- Raises reimbursement rates for other Medicaid providers to equal those of Medicare.
- Establishes online license renewal for physicians, dentists and nurses.
- Raises the age of insurance coverage for children under their parents' policies to age 30, as long as they continue to be unmarried and reside in Connecticut. The child does not need to be a dependent.
- Designates eHealth CT as the lead Health Information Exchange in the state for a period of five years, and directs the state Department of Public Health to contract with them for a statewide health information technology plan.
- Directs state agencies to conduct an inventory of all the disease management programs run by HUSKY HMOs, through SAGA and through Medicaid and an inventory of all the disease management programs run in the private and public sectors in the state.
- Requires employers to deduct health care premiums from employee salaries on a pre-tax basis.
- Requires the ad hoc committee on school-based health centers to meet regarding recommended statutory changes to improve health care through school-based health centers.
- Appropriates $2.5 million for the expansion and operation of school-based health centers for priority school districts and areas that have been designated as medically underserved or as health professional shortage areas.
- Appropriates $500,000 or grants to community-based health centers for transportation for patients to and from medical appointments, priority to be given to those centers located in areas of the state with limited public transportation options.
- Appropriates $2 million in grants for infrastructure improvements to community-based health centers including health information technology.
"Passage of Senate Bill No. 1 is a clear indication that we intend to make good on our pledge to address glaring inadequacies and inefficiencies in a system where an increasing number of working families, suddenly single or unemployed, and economically vulnerable are over-represented among the under-insured," said Sen. Handley, co-chair of the Public Health Committee. "We know that 70% of all medical costs are for those with chronic conditions; if we can expand coverage to diagnose and treat those chronic conditions sooner, we can greatly reduce the overall cost of health care in Connecticut."
"While we take these immediate steps, a special implementation panel of national experts is working to find the most efficient and effective way to bring a Medicare-for-all type of health care system to Connecticut," Sen. Williams said. "We know it won't be easy nor done overnight. Yet we are committed to creating a national model for health care delivery here in our state."
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Senator Williams’ Larry Cook |
Listing of Leadership’s recent press releases. |
Senator Looney’s Larry Cook |
