Mental health practitioners, advocates, insurance companies and the Connecticut Insurance Department agree on the need for data to determine whether stories of people struggling to get coverage for mental health care are isolated incidents or signs of a deeper problem. But they disagree on a legislative proposal that one proponent says would require collecting data “essential” in making that determination.
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 inEducation, Health, Money, Politics
Legislature adopts bipartisan plan to close this year’s modest deficit
The General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a bipartisan plan Tuesday afternoon to close most or all of the current budget deficit, immediately shifting the legislature’s focus to a far larger projected shortfall for the fiscal year beginning July 1.
Posted inEducation, Health, Justice, Money, Politics, Transportation
A minefield of concerns complicates laying off state workers
Though all indications are that many state employees will receive pink slips soon, several factors make it difficult for Connecticut to downsize its workforce. And those same factors and others make it all-but-impossible to close the major budget deficits projected for the next few years with layoffs alone.
Posted inHealth
State to close two centers for those with intellectual disabilities
State officials Thursday announced plans to close by June 30 two state-run facilities that provide residential care for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities. The move was pegged as a “change in strategic direction” as the state looks to outsource those services to private providers to save money.
Posted inHealth
Critics urge more transparency in Anthem-Cigna merger review
Saying that “all eyes will be on Connecticut,” critics of two pending mergers of major health insurers have asked the state’s insurance commissioner to take steps they say would increase transparency in the review of Anthem’s proposed acquisition of Cigna.
Posted inHealth
Session Notes: Medical marijuana for minors bill advances
The Public Health Committee voted 20 to 7 Monday to move forward a proposal that would allow minors with certain medical conditions to use medical marijuana.
Posted inHealth
Bill would limit new opioid prescriptions to seven-day supplies
New prescriptions for opioid medication to address non-chronic pain would be limited to a seven-day supply under a proposal state legislators from both parties are backing – one of several bills aimed at curbing a drug epidemic that killed, on average, more than one person per day in Connecticut last year.
Posted inHealth
Connecticut confirms its first case of Zika virus
The state’s first case of Zika virus was confirmed in a person who traveled to a Zika-affected area and returned earlier this month, according to the state Department of Public Health.
Posted inEducation, Health, Money, Politics
Malloy orders more cuts as lawmakers vow to close deficit by April 1
While legislators committed Wednesday to close a $220 million hole in state finances by March 31, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy ordered $79 million in emergency cuts, two-thirds of which hit social service agencies and education.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
Hospitals say state puts them between a rock and a hard place
As hospital officials describe it, state policy is pushing them in two opposing directions. Higher state taxes and funding cuts have added to the factors pushing independent community hospitals to join larger health systems, they say. But at the same time, legislators concerned about the growth of large health systems have been pushing for new restrictions on changes in hospital ownership, which hospital officials say makes it harder for them to adapt.
Posted inHealth
VIDEO: How to ensure CT residents can ‘age in place’
Ensuring that seniors can “age in place” – that is, receive long-term care at home or in their community, rather than in a nursing home – is a major policy goal of Connecticut leaders. In a Google Hangout video, experts discuss efforts to achieve it by addressing transportation, housing, home health care and workforce issues. In one Connecticut town, the high school football team also played a role. The hangout was sponsored by AARP Connecticut.
Posted inHealth
For help with opioid addiction, CT offers one number to call
In an effort to better connect people with help for opioid addiction, the state has made available a single phone number residents can call to be connected with a local substance abuse walk-in assessment center.
Posted inHealth, Money
Malloy holds back community health center funds
The move is similar to one the administration made in suspending $140 million in payments for hospitals, and led health center officials to warn that it could cost jobs and set back services for poor patients.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
Prospect of detox, psychiatric bed cuts worries hospital officials
As they try to cut more than $34 million from their budget, officials at the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services say they anticipate reducing the number of treatment beds available – a prospect that worries hospital officials and mental health professionals. “In an era when we’re in this opioid crisis, why would we be reducing capacity when there’s already not enough?” said Terri DiPietro, director of the Center for Behavioral Health at Middlesex Hospital.
Posted inHealth
U.S. Supreme Court deals blow to CT health data collection effort
In a ruling that could have reverberations for a Connecticut health reform effort, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that certain health plans could not be required by a state to disclose data for use in a health care claims database.