It’s been a rough few weeks for health care reform in Connecticut, as Gov. M Jodi Rell has aggressively vetoed bills aimed at expanding insurance coverage to Connecticut residents.
Citing cost concerns, Rell vetoed three measures, all highly touted by Democrats, that would have opened up the state health insurance pool to more groups, implemented a plan for universal health care and sweetened insurance benefits offered by employers.
“These are well-intentioned bills but they ultimately fail to resolve the central problems of access and affordability,” Rell said last week.
“These bills also raise serious fiscal concerns that — in a time of record budget deficits, record unemployment and record business closures — simply cannot be ignored.”
House Bill 6582 would have allowed municipalities, nonprofits and small businesses to enter the state employee health pool, which currently covers about 98,000 active and retired state employees and their 97,000 dependents.
House Bill 6600 would have established a nine-member board of directors to make recommendations for implementing the SustiNet plan, which, among other things, aims to achieve universal health care in the state.
Rell criticized the measure, saying it would not have given the board enough flexibility, including the option to suggest that the plan would be too expensive or unworkable in light of potential federal reforms.
Rell said the state Office of Policy and Management has estimated that the SustiNet plan will likely cost about $1 billion per year.
House Bill 5021 would have expanded mandated health insurance coverage for individual and group policies. Among the items for which it would have mandated coverage were prosthetics, wigs, hearing aids, and leukocyte testing for bone marrow transplants.
The Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut denounced the vetoes as “callous and ill-informed.”
“It’s a slap in the face to thousands of small businesses and every person in this state who cannot wait for quality, affordable health care,” said president Juan A. Figueroa.
— Greg Bordonaro
