A recent federal report says hospitals saw a major decrease in uncompensated care after the rollout of key provisions of the federal health law this year. But so far, that’s not what Connecticut hospitals are experiencing, according to their association.
Health
Stories about health care access and affordability in CT, as well as abortion, COVID, health equity and disparities, health systems and social determinants of health.
Dive Deeper: Abortion · Access Health CT · COVID-19 · CT Rural Hospitals
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With Hartford Hospital deadline looming, Anthem adds St. Francis to exchange network
St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford is joining Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s network for plans sold through the state’s health insurance exchange. The timing is important for Anthem, which could sever ties with Hartford Hospital’s parent company next week.
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A Nobel Prize candidate at CT’s Jackson Lab?
The director of The Jackson Laboratory’s Connecticut institute, an influential researcher, has landed on a list of likely Nobel Prize winners.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Special report: Serving Connecticut’s Veterans
As a national scandal over long waits for medical appointments engulfed the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs this spring, The Mirror began to explore questions about how well the VA was serving Connecticut’s vets. We examined the wait times for care at VA facilities here; whether post-scandal reforms and budget increases will lead to better, more timely care; and whether the VA is making progress in preventing veteran suicides, a plague the agency has been grappling with for years. These issues are explored today in three stories, and in a video in which some veterans and their caregivers talk intimately about the struggles they face.
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Suicide by veterans remains a daunting problem as VA struggles to improve care
Connecticut has one of the lowest rates of veteran suicide in the nation, but the situation remains daunting. While there’s evidence some progress has been made, the state’s veterans commit suicide at nearly twice the rate of non-vets.
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A refuge and a resource for veterans
At one Connecticut community college, student veterans and a professor who volunteers her time are trying to fill in the concrete gaps and less tangible needs returning service members face. It’s part hangout, part support group, part oasis where you can talk without having to explain yourself.
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As competitors join big chains, independent hospitals join forces
With several Connecticut hospitals poised to join larger chains, a group of five health care systems announced plans Tuesday to take another tack — forming an alliance aimed at giving them the benefits of scale while remaining independent.
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To target childhood obesity, start even younger, experts say
Many efforts targeting obesity focus on school-aged children. But a growing body of research suggests that to have the biggest impact, the work needs to start with even younger children, and their mothers.
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Why some Obamacare insurance discounts could drop in 2015
Costs to buy insurance through Connecticut’s health insurance exchange won’t, on average, rise much next year. For some plans, the prices are dropping. But some customers who get financial aid to buy their insurance could see price increases beyond the rise in sticker price if they stick with their current plans.
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Exchange says Obamacare helped close racial, ethnic coverage gaps
Black and Hispanic Connecticut residents were disproportionately likely to be uninsured before the rollout of the federal health law, and new data suggest that the first sign-up period for coverage under Obamacare made a dent in that disparity.
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Access Health plans much smaller enrollment assistance effort this time
When enrollment for Obamacare opens two months from now, Connecticut’s health insurance exchange is planning an in-person outreach effort that’s a fraction of the size of last year’s nearly $3 million sign-up blitz. The smaller scale worries consumer advocates, who say reaching the remaining uninsured will take a more intensive effort.
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Obamacare Q&A: CT exchange will let some automatically renew plans
Access Health CT, the state’s health insurance exchange, is developing a system to automatically renew coverage for some people who don’t want to make changes to their benefits.
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What new numbers on the uninsured do, and don’t, tell us about Obamacare
New figures released Tuesday indicate that the number of people without health insurance dropped in early 2014, the first year the major provisions of the federal health law took effect. But the numbers still give us a very limited picture of the impact Obamacare has had on coverage in Connecticut.
Posted inEducation, Health
ER visits and hospitalizations for asthma on the rise
A growing number of people are using hospital emergency departments for treatment of asthma symptoms. Each year from 2005 to 2009, Connecticut residents with asthma symptoms on average visited the emergency room 22,000 times, and were hospitalized 4,800 times.
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Need to reach a DSS worker? Can you hold for 78 minutes?
More than a year after the state Department of Social Services changed its phone system, people who rely on it say it remains unacceptably difficult to reach a worker. Last month, callers looking to speak to a person waited on hold an average of 78 minutes. And 71 percent hung up first.