Lamont Looks To Reduce CT Healthcare Costs: Here’s How

HARTFORD, CT — Gov. Ned Lamont signed two executive orders Wednesday with the intent to get a handle on skyrocketing healthcare costs in Connecticut. The plan is modeled after one in Massachusetts that has saved the state and its residents $5 billion since 2013.

One order will direct the state Office of Health Strategy to analyze data and come up with healthcare cost growth and quality benchmarks. The other directs the state Department of Social Services to improve public transparency of Medicaid costs and quality.

“While several independent studies rank Connecticut’s healthcare system near the top nationwide, our state also ranks sixth nationally for healthcare spending and has significant health disparities that we must address,” Lamont said. “Getting these costs under control will help strengthen economic development and will help us attract and retain a talented workforce.”

The state Senate Democratic Caucus is also looking to make healthcare reforms a priority for the 2020 legislative session, including a sharp reduction in the cost of insulin for diabetic patients.

Caucus members also pitched a public health insurance option that residents and businesses could buy-in to have access to the state public healthcare plan. A similar proposal was made in the 2019 legislative session, but it didn’t make it a full vote. State Comptroller Kevin Lembo said Cigna Corp. threatened to leave the state if lawmakers passed the bill. Cigna officials denied the allegation, but did say it was an “ill-conceived” plan.

Lamont said he preferred working collaboratively with insurers and other stakeholders when asked by reporters if he supported a public option.

How CT wants to bring costs down

The aim of Lamont’s executive order isn’t to bring the hammer down on one part of the healthcare industry, but to have different parts of the system work collaboratively to cut down on duplicative efforts and inefficiencies, said Vicki Veltri, head of the Office of Health Strategy.

In Massachusetts the state analyzes healthcare data to locate where costs are growing the fastest and then brings in representatives from the industry for public hearings.

Reigning in healthcare costs will save both consumers and the state money as about 20 percent of the state budget goes to fund Medicaid programs. Spending on healthcare has grown 77 percent in the last 15 years in Connecticut, but wages have only grown 21 percent, Veltri said.

“Taking a broader approach through statewide annual healthcare cost growth benchmarks and ensuring we prioritize primary care spending will help better coordinate care and head off higher cost services – it is good for families, businesses, and the state,” Veltri said.

Massachusetts has been able to reduce costs without resorting to penalties for healthcare systems that have high growing costs.

Democratic Caucus unveils healthcare reform ideas

Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney said one of the caucus plans is to pass a law that will cap insulin costs and related supplies at $100 a month for patients. The bill is modeled after a similar law in Colorado that recently went into effect and mandates that insurance companies absorb any excess costs.

The bill will also include a mechanism for diabetic patients to purchase emergency insulin supplies.

“We are committed to the basic idea that nobody in Connecticut should die because they don’t have access to insulin,” Senate Deputy Majority Leader Matt Lesser said.

Around 355,000 people in Connecticut have diabetes. The cost of insulin has nearly tripled between 2002 and 2013 and increased 15 to 17 percent per year from 2012 to 2016, according to the American Diabetes Association. The high cost for even those with insurance has led some with diabetes to unsafely ration their doses or choose between groceries or insulin.

Members of the caucus are also exploring ways to limit the cost of other prescription drugs in general.

Another caucus proposal calls for allowing children to stay on parent eye and dental insurance until they are 26-years-old.

"When you look around the state of Connecticut and hear from families, you hear they are dealing with massive increases in the cost of healthcare,” Lesser said. “Small businesses are being especially affected, and even those folks who do have insurance, thanks to high deductibles and other restrictions, find their care out of reach."