Home care agency leaders say a new electronic system the state’s Medicaid program requires them to use has been beset by problems and has led some agencies to consider phasing out service to Medicaid clients. But the state agency overseeing it says anecdotal information suggests it could be improving services.
Home health agencies seek delay for electronic system
Posted inNews
Yale law students help halt deportations
A Yale Law School team helped convince a judge Saturday to temporarily stop the government from deporting foreigners detained at U.S. airports based on an executive order by President Donald Trump. But the order has quashed about a dozen refugee families’ plans to resettle in New Haven in coming weeks.
Posted inNews
Week starts badly for Aetna, then focus quickly turns to Trump
Catch up on a week in Connecticut that started with an antitrust setback for Aetna, then focused heavily on the effects of President Trump’s executive orders. The budget for child protection and the state’s response to the opioid crisis were also in the news.
Posted inPolitics
Roger Stone and the Trump phenomenon
If anyone is familiar with the inner workings of President Donald Trump’s political campaign, it is Connecticut native and author Roger Stone. In this Sunday conversation, he talks about Trump’s rise to power and dismisses as “nonsense” a recent New York Times report that intelligence agencies are investigating him and two other Trump political operatives for alleged ties to the Kremlin.
Posted inEducation
What we learned (and didn’t) about Betsy DeVos at her confirmation hearing
After weeks of skewering criticism from public school advocates who have painted her as an extremist who opposes public education, Betsy DeVos — the billionaire philanthropist and school-choice advocate — used her Senate confirmation hearing to repeatedly stress that her support for policies such as private-school vouchers is about giving parents control over their children’s education.
Posted inHealth
New strain on nursing homes: Keep patients out of hospitals
Since 2012 the federal government has been penalizing hospitals for high rates of patients returning within 30 days of discharge. But now, nursing homes also are being held accountable for hospital readmissions.
Posted inPolitics
Blumenthal: Stripping federal funds from sanctuary cities would be ‘illegal’
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Friday it would be “illegal” for President Donald J. Trump’s administration to cut off federal funding to sanctuary cities under an executive order issued Wednesday.
Posted inHealth, Politics
ACA architect talks about ‘bad GOP math,’ uncertain replacement
WASHINGTON —Jonathan Gruber, an architect of the Affordable Care Act, predicts shakier insurance exchanges with the repeal of the law. In this interview he doubts congressional Republicans can find a reasonable, effective replacement.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Conservative jurisprudence will stymie Trump’s immigration order
The day after the election of Donald Trump, I heard news reports around the state of panicked schoolchildren. These sons and daughters of undocumented immigrants believed mistakenly that with the rise of Trump came the imminent deportation of their parents. It was awful to hear. I felt a personal failing. We in the media are charged with informing the citizenry so the citizenry can chose the best leader. We failed at that, clearly, but we also failed to explain how government works. What these panicked youth did not understand is that the president is not a king.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
A mind-boggling tax revenue idea
On Jan. 26, Paul Hughes had a front page headline article in the Waterbury Republican-American titled “Local revenue-raisers.” In the article, dispensing with the property tax exemption on tax-exempt organizations was mentioned as a possibility for raising more revenue for the income-strapped state. One proposal — which apparently came from the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities […]
Posted inJustice
How a small-state AG’s office plays in the big leagues
Connecticut increasingly is finding itself out front in multi-state litigation waged by state attorneys general, leading a bipartisan coalition in a drug-pricing investigation – and 16 Democrats in an early challenge to the policies of President Trump.
Posted inJustice
ACLU survey finds police complaint practices still deficient
Police agencies across the state are breaking the law by failing to make policies for misconduct complaints accessible to the the public, according to a survey released today by the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
CT gets good news for now on its EPA grants
At least for the near term, the major EPA grants to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection will keep flowing despite a freeze and review of contracts and grants by the Trump administration.
Posted inHealth, Politics
‘It’s a public health crisis:’ Malloy proposals target opioids
The proposals include requiring physicians to prescribe opioids electronically rather than on paper; allowing visiting nurses to destroy unused medication; and allowing patients to direct that they not be prescribed an opioid medication.
Posted inEducation
NLRB orders Yale grad student union vote
The ruling was the latest victory for graduate-student union organizers. Union activists have tried to organize Yale grad student teachers since 1991.