The Connecticut Hospital Association is out with its 2016 economic impact report that claims state hospitals contributed $21.3 billion to the state and local economies in 2014.
According to the report, in 2014, Connecticut hospitals generated $10.9 billion in annual local payroll, $8.8 billion in spending on goods and services, and $1.6 billion in capital spending.
The report cited Connecticut hospitals provide the full-time equivalent of 55,000 jobs. In addition, it said, nearly every hospital job produces another job outside the hospital, resulting in a total of 108,000 positions directly and indirectly tied to hospitals.
Jennifer Jackson, the hospital association’s CEO, used the report to further the group’s political agenda. She said in a statement, “By returning hospital tax funds to the hospitals as the state originally intended, 6,600 jobs would be created, and the state would see a surplus of close to $35 million every year, starting in the first year.”
In December, in the midst of a struggle with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy over hospital reimbursements, the association released an economic study it funded from the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis. In November, the hospital association also ran an ad campaign contesting the governor’s Medicaid cuts.
