More than 100,000 people bought private health plans through the state’s health insurance exchange for this year, but a survey of customers found that more than one in three haven’t used their coverage and more than one in four don’t have a primary care physician.
Arielle Levin Becker
Arielle Levin Becker covered health care for The Connecticut Mirror. She previously worked for The Hartford Courant, most recently as its health reporter, and has also covered small towns, courts and education in Connecticut and New Jersey. She was a finalist in 2009 for the prestigious Livingston Award for Young Journalists, a recipient of a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship and the third-place winner in 2013 for an in-depth piece on caregivers from the National Association of Health Journalists. She is a 2004 graduate of Yale University.
Posted inHealth
CT insurance customers urge regulators to reject rate hikes
“Can you give us a break? I’m trying to provide the best health care for my kids and you make it more difficult each year!” one customer wrote to the Connecticut Insurance Department. “I might as well just drop insurance altogether. This is so discouraging.”
Posted inHealth
Day Kimball, Hartford HealthCare exploring affiliation
Day Kimball Hospital in Putnam could become the next hospital to join Hartford HealthCare, the parent company of Hartford, Backus and Windham hospitals, MidState Medical Center and The Hospital of Central Connecticut.
Posted inHealth
New London, Westerly hospitals to join Yale New Haven system
The parent company of New London’s Lawrence + Memorial Hospital and Rhode Island’s Westerly Hospital has reached an agreement to join the Yale New Haven Health System, the two corporations announced Wednesday.
Posted inHealth
How Jackson Lab and CT fit Obama’s vision for medical research
FARMINGTON – President Obama is pushing to devote millions of dollars and significant emphasis to a field of research known as precision medicine, and a top White House science advisor said Friday that Connecticut — and the research institute lured here with significant state funds — are leaders in the field.
Posted inHealth
DSS call-wait time plummets (to 17 minutes) after changes
Wait times for callers to reach a worker at the state Department of Social Services fell dramatically in June following changes meant to improve how the agency handles calls. On average, people calling the social service agency waited 17 minutes on hold to reach a worker — down from 87 minutes last July.
Posted inHealth
CT insurers lower rate hike requests on Obamacare plans
In filings with state regulators, the companies cited varying reasons for lowering their proposed rate hikes for 2016 – ranging from lower claims costs to plans to cover a narrower network of health care providers.
Posted inHealth
Anthem, ConnectiCare, Golden Rule rate requests to get public hearings
Their plans cover 70,553 policyholders who purchased insurance for themselves through the state’s individual insurance market.
Posted inMoney
Track the budget: Compare the spending and revenue proposals
The new state budget takes effect today. Here’s a look at the key spending cuts and tax increases, and a look at how they were developed.
Posted inEducation, Energy & Environment, Health, Money, Politics
Health, labor, environment bills revived in special session
A wide range of legislative priorities that failed to clear both chambers of the General Assembly before the June 3 end of the regular session won final approval early Tuesday as part of a massive budget implementation bill. The 686-page everything-but-the-kitchen-sink bill also includes several controversial new provisions. Here’s what’s in it.
Posted inHealth
Bristol Hospital eliminates 43 positions, citing cuts in payments
Bristol Hospital has eliminated 43 positions in recent weeks, reducing its workforce by 5 percent in response to major cuts to Medicaid and Medicare payments, CEO Kurt Barwis wrote in a memo to staff, volunteers and community members Friday.
Posted inHealth
Manchester Memorial, Rockville General hospitals find new buyer
The parent company of Manchester Memorial and Rockville General hospitals announced plans Friday to be acquired by Prospect Medical Holdings, a for-profit, Los Angeles-based company already in the process of acquiring Waterbury Hospital.
Posted inHealth
Why one independent hospital decided to explore going bigger
Every year, Lawrence + Memorial Hospital CEO Bruce Cummings has done what he calls a “back of the envelope” calculation about the merits of the New London hospital’s remaining independent or joining a larger system. “My thinking began to evolve last year as I looked out on the horizon and just saw just extraordinary changes,” he said.
Posted inHealth
As Medicaid grows, will there be more cuts to provider payments?
Radiologists are appealing to legislators to roll back a 42.5 percent cut to their Medicaid payment rates. And some patient advocates are raising a broader concern, warning that cuts to providers who treat Medicaid patients could become more common, making it harder for the more than 725,000 state residents in Medicaid to find specialists to treat them.
Posted inHealth
Lawrence + Memorial Hospital’s parent in talks to join Yale New Haven system
If the two sides reach an agreement, it would have the potential to make one of the state’s largest health systems even larger, continuing a trend toward consolidation that hospital officials say is inevitable and necessary, but which has provoked concern among some lawmakers, unions and community groups.