CT health plan comparisons

US News and World Reports has published their annual national comparison of HMOs. CT has two commercial HMOs listed in the top 20 “Honor Roll” – Health New England (#6) and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield (#7). Health New England is not listed as a managed care organization on the CT Insurance Dept.’s website. A call to their offices found that their network is limited mainly to Western Massachusetts, and the only CT members they cover are in employer self-funded plans. No CT Medicaid or Medicare plans made either the “Honor Roll” or the top 10 for our region. There are several helpful articles with the rankings including “How safe is your health care?” and “When your insurer won’t pay up”.

Last month, CT’s Insurance Dept. published their annual comparison of managed care plans in the state. Lots of interesting information, for example – a patient survey found that in the last year between 41% (Aetna) and 61% (HealthNet) felt that they always got the non-urgent care they needed when they needed it. On most measures, Anthem performed at about the CT HMO average, with the exception of beta blockers prescribed after a heart attack – Anthem’s performance was lowest at 44%; the CT average was 64% and Aetna reached 100%.
Ellen Andrews