Insurance and Real Estate Committee
SENATE FAVORABLE REPORT
Bill No.: SB-346
AN ACT CONCERNING PUBLIC OPTIONS FOR HEALTH CARE IN
Title: CONNECTICUT.
Vote Date: 3/10/2020
Vote Action: Joint Favorable
PH Date: 3/5/2020
File No.:
Disclaimer: The following SENATE FAVORABLE Report is prepared for the benefit of the
members of the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and
explanation and does not represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber
thereof for any purpose.
SPONSORS OF BILL:
Insurance and Real Estate Committee
REASONS FOR BILL:
This Bill establishes the ConnectHealth Program, the ConnectHealth Trust Account as well
as the ConnectHealth Advisory Board and creates new Healthcare plan options for small
businesses, nonprofits and unions. This bill is needed because small businesses, non-profits,
union Taft-Hartley plans and individuals who have no workplace insurance have limited
Affordable Healthcare options.
RESPONSE FROM ADMINISTRATION/AGENCY:
Kevin Lembo, Comptroller of the State of Connecticut supports this bill as he states in his
testimony, The Connecticut Plan would allow small businesses, non-profits, union Taft-
Hartley Plans and individuals with no workplace insurance access to buy into a variety of plan
choices offered by the state.
Ted Doolittle; Office of the Healthcare Advocate for the State of Connecticut supports
this bill because he believes the current healthcare system is not serving Connecticut families
and businesses well and something needs to change. He believes the current healthcare
system has failed, particularly the commercial coverage sector. He believes this is
fundamentally a health care cost control measure. He mentions how this bill follows
international standards in placing the state government nearer the cost negotiation alongside
and really in support of the private carriers. He believes the bill should really be called the
Public-Private Partnership Option as it doesnt call to create a large bureaucracy rather it
calls for the state to oversee private sector partners in offering a new plan. This plan he
mentions would not be a departure for the U.S. or Connecticut as this type of partnership has
been going on for 50 years. He also supports the public option to accomplish the two goals of
controlling cost while maintaining high-quality care. Mr. Doolittle supports other aspects of
this bill such as the establishment of the ConnectHealth Program; how this bill would
implement state-finances cost-sharing subsidies for enrollees in the ConnectHealth Program
who do not qualify for cost-sharing subsidies under the ACA; how this bill would create
statewide dental benefits for consumers. He suggests the state explore whether the New
York adopted Basic Health Plan might be a suitable vehicle for the ConnectHealth Program
as well as adding the Office of the Healthcare Advocate as an ex-officio, non-voting member
of the advisory council.
NATURE AND SOURCES OF SUPPORT:
Legislators: Senator Christine Cohen supports this bill because she feels that healthcare
has become increasingly unaffordable and without action many people will continue
struggling to retain adequate health care needed to live. Shes confident the Connecticut Plan
will afford small business and non-profits the ability to provide their employees high-quality
care plans that are affordable will help avert further crisis. She mentions her experience as a
small businesses owner and how the rate increases over the years for healthcare have
become unsustainable. The Senator recommends a language change in the bill where it
pertains to the definition of small business. That proposed change is included in her
testimony in further detail.
Senator Martin Looney supports this bill because he believes that having a public option for
health insurance will give Connecticut affordable, quality health insurance. He believes it will
encourage healthy competition in the health insurance marketplace, which will lead to better
prices for Connecticut Consumers. The Senator also feels that a Public Option is good for
businesses, working families pocket books and the overall health of Connecticut. He
commends the work on this bill by the Committee and Comptroller.
Representative Kim Rose supports this bill because she believes expanding programs and
coverage is one essential step we can take towards alleviating the burden health care cost
puts on our community. She feels that improvements to the wellbeing and medical treatment
of our residents will have economic, social and emotional impacts on all of us living in CT.
Angela Aguilar; Rob Baril; Lesley Bennett; Zina Bennett; Gail Berritt; John Brady; Joy Chen;
Christina Fagerstal; Sally Grossman; Conrad Heede; Kate Johnson; Nora King; Rachel
Kornbluh; Matthew Meizlish; Gina Morgenstein; Michele Mudrick; Krishna Naik; Leah
Sussman; Susan Voigt all support this bill primarily for common reasons such as this bill
would make healthcare more affordable in the state of Connecticut, the bill addresses the for-
profit healthcare system in CT, and the bill would combat health disparities as well as health-
related discrimination.
Rachel Besse; Thomas Burr; Jack Carlson; Janet Carlson; Carl Chisem; Connecticut
Realtors; Nanette DeWester; Joanna Dornfeld; Rob Federici; Kathy Flaherty; Pareesa
Goodwin; Saranya Govindaraju; Tiffany Hu; Jackie Kaiko; Stephen Kops; Zak Leavy; Sal
Page 2 of 4 SB-346
Luciano; Rick Melita; Amy Moisan; Helen Moore; William Morico; Frances Padilla; Josh
Pawelek; Deb Polun (Executive Director - CAFCA); David Sarbello; Roger Senserrich; Jeff
Shaw; Irene Skrybailo; Tom Swan; Ethan Rodriguez-Torrent; Bruno Venero; Katherine
Villeda; Madhav Vishnubhatta; Stephen Wanczyk-Karp; Lisa Winjum all support this bill
primarily for common reasons such as this bill would expand health care coverage for non-
profits, small businesses, Taft-Hartley Union members and individuals.
BeneCare Dental Plans support a dental public option that helps consumers and small
businesses without imposing an excessive burden on taxpayers or significant administrative
costs on state government.
Health Equity Solutions recommend the Connect Advisory Council includes additional
consumers and particularly include representatives of communities of color that experience
high rates of un-insurance.
Seth Powers (Co-Director of The Center for Children with Special Needs) expresses
conditional support for the bill upon their concern which they claim to share with other
healthcare providers regarding the fee schedule that would be assigned to providers for
individuals who have their insurance through a public option.
Julia Regan; Edward Vollmer support this bill but did not list any reasons as to why
NATURE AND SOURCES OF OPPOSITION:
AHIP opposes this bill because they dont believe that a one-size-fits-all government
insurance system is the answer to giving every American high quality, affordable healthcare.
They feel this bill will not lower healthcare cost and will likely lead to higher taxes and worse
care for everyone. They also believe that patients will pay even more for prescriptions as this
bill would strip healthcare providers of important leverage to negotiate lower drug cost for
patients. They express their concern that doctors and hospitals will suffer and so will patient
care under this bill.
Joe Brennan (President of CBIA) and the CBIA oppose this bill because they believe a
state-run health insurance plan will destabilize the health insurance market, require subsidies
to finance the program and negatively impact Connecticuts economy.
Jeffrey Hogan opposes this bill because he believes a public option would dramatically
disrupt the existing small group marketplace in Connecticut and will extend commercial cost
shift for employers to other market segments. He states how the existing state of Connecticut
Health Insurance Plan is expensive and risky and its loss ratio underperforms the existing
commercial marketplace. He feels that the State of Connecticut should not be in the business
managing risk as this is the job of professional risk managers employed by the existing health
industry.
Connecticut Hospital Association opposes this bill due to concerns with lines 57-59 of the
bill which require the comptroller to establish a schedule of payments and reimbursement
rates for the ConnectHealth Plan.... They also have concerns with lines 94-95 which require
the comptroller to develop a proposed schedule of the initial payments and reimbursement
rates for the ConnectHealth Plan. They find these two provisions highly problematic if the
Page 3 of 4 SB-346
rates to be established are not commercial rates. The Association also expressed that
hospitals rely on the payments they receive from insured individuals to sustain lifesaving of
care and unfortunately government payers reimburse hospitals far below the cost of care.
They suggest that to keep the healthcare safety net strong, this bill should clarify that the
rates to be paid to providers will be based on commercial insurance rates established through
negotiation between the insurer and provider rather than government rates such as Medicaid
or Medicare.
J.P. Wieske opposes this bill as he states insurance is a contract and what this bill proposes,
he believes is not a contract. Mr. Wieske feels this bill is run more like a government-run
program like Medicaid and the basic financial requirements for an insurance contract are
missing. He states how this bill is missing key consumer elements that are typically part of
todays insurance contracts. He also believes this bill creates new issues by further
segmenting the risk pool, making it difficult for consumers to compare coverage and making
enrollment in the program and the market-at-large more difficult. Mr. Wieske expresses his
concern that this program will significantly harm the Affordable Care Act market in both the
individual and small group market.
Reported by: CJ Ford Date: April 13, 2020
Page 4 of 4 SB-346


Statutes affected:
Raised Bill: