Connecticut Children’s Medical Center and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield had discussions Tuesday but did not reach an agreement on a new contract that would lead the hospital to return to the insurer’s network. The two sides are expected to continue talks throughout the week, according to a hospital spokeswoman. The Hartford children’s hospital […]
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.
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Posted inEducation, Health, Money
School-Based Mental Health and the Achievement Gap
According to a recent report issued by the General Assembly’s Legislative Program Review and Investigations Committee, “Students enrolled in a school-based health center gained three times as much classroom seat time as students not enrolled, and SBHCs significantly reduced the number of early dismissals from school in comparison with students who received school nursing services […]
Posted inHealth
Connecticut Children’s will let Anthem contract expire Monday
Connecticut Children’s Medical Center announced Friday afternoon that it is allowing its contract with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield to expire Monday. Children covered by Anthem will still be allowed to receive medical services at the hospital, but their families could be stuck with higher costs because the hospital would not be in the […]
Posted inHealth
Illusions, delusions and possible solutions
On March 29, the Joint Committee on Judiciary held a hearing on raised bill, SB 452, which is now dead. Unfortunately, the committee was largely presented with a highly distorted and misinformed picture of Connecticut’s existing civil commitment law and what the bill would have done. The discussion centered on patient rights and the ineffectiveness […]
Posted inHealth
How health care is like a thermostat
A urologist who specializes in prostate cancer, Dr. Peter C. Albertsen said he’s long been astounded at how many patients referred to him have had CT scans and bone scans performed that weren’t warranted. So when he and colleagues at Yale and New York University began researching the use of imaging in prostate cancer patients, […]
Posted inHealth, Money
Health plan customers to get notices when insurers seek to change rates
Consumers will receive a notice in the mail whenever their health insurance company seeks a rate change, the Connecticut Insurance Department announced Thursday. The notices will apply to individual and small group policyholders, and will go out when insurers submit a request for a rate change to the insurance department. People who buy individual insurance […]
Posted inHealth, Money
DPH gets funds to expand home visits to at-risk families
A federal grant will allow the state to expand a program that provides home visiting services to families with young children at high risk for problems including abuse or neglect, poor maternal or infant health outcomes, childhood injuries, poor school readiness or achievement, and crime and domestic abuse. The program currently serves about 20,000 families, […]
Posted inHealth, Money
AG: Malloy executive orders aimed at gathering information, nothing more
When he issued executive orders allowing certain day care providers and home care workers to unionize, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was creating a way to gather information and evaluate policy proposals about state programs, not attempting to interfere with legislative authority or force anyone to join a union, according to a court document filed on […]
Posted inHealth, Money
Malloy unsure if state could impose insurance mandate if feds can’t
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Friday that no one should count on his administration’s adopting an individual health insurance mandate for the state if the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down the federal health reform law. Speaking during a press availability, Malloy was responding to a question posed about a Mirror story about whether the administration […]
Posted inHealth
Milford nursing home lockout set to end
HealthBridge Management announced Friday that it will end the lockout of unionized workers at its West River Health Care Center in Milford beginning Wednesday. The 78 workers have been locked out since Dec. 13. Contracts for the facility’s employees, and those of workers at five other unionized HealthBridge nursing homes in Connecticut, expired more than […]
Posted inHealth
Middlesex Hospital, UnitedHealthcare reach deal
Middlesex Hospital and UnitedHealthcare have reached an agreement on a new contract, avoiding the possibility that the Middletown hospital would leave the insurer’s network April 1. The hospital announced the agreement Friday evening. Before reaching a deal, UnitedHealthcare notified members about the possibility of severing ties with the hospital, although a company spokesman said the […]
Posted inHealth, Money
Home care workers vote to unionize
In a controversial election, home care workers who are paid through state programs voted to join the New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199, SEIU, by a vote of 1,228 to 365. The union announced the vote totals Thursday. The vote follows an executive order Gov. Dannel P. Malloy issued in September, allowing the […]
Posted inHealth
Affordable housing advocates fill in some blanks
Washington — Researchers from the Department of Housing and Urban Development stood in front of about 25 housing advocates from all over the country Tuesday morning with a question: “What should we be focusing on our research attention on?” Todd Richardson asked. “Do you see research gaps? Things that we haven’t really looked at?” He […]
Posted inHealth
Some insurers paying patients who agree to get cheaper care
In recent years, insurers have tried to cajole consumers into using less-expensive health-care providers by promising lower co-payments and other cost-sharing breaks for members who select those doctors and hospitals. Lately, they’re trying an even more direct approach: cash rewards. Some Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield members in New Hampshire, Connecticut and Indiana can […]
Posted inHealth
Supreme Court sharply divided over individual mandate
Washington — On the second day of oral arguments over the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, a divided Supreme Court turned its attention to whether Congress had the authority to require most Americans to have health insurance.