CT insurers push plan for universal health care; Rests on individual mandate

According to today’s Hartford Courant, CT’s insurance industry is promoting a plan to cover everyone in the state. The industry is proposing to create a pool for individuals who can’t get or can’t afford insurance in the market now. They expect state subsidies to make the coverage affordable – there is no mention of the industry or employers providing subsidies. They resist the idea of including other groups in the pool such as state employees, municipalities, HUSKY, small employers, or nonprofits which have been proposed by others in various versions. Not surprisingly, the insurers’ price for creating this pool would be that everyone in the state would be legally required to buy their product – an individual mandate. However, despite a legal mandate that all drivers have auto insurance, 12% of drivers in CT are uninsured. The proposal blames the victims of uninsurance for the problem and places the costs of health care reform on those least able to pay. The CT Health Policy Project has outlined many significant challenges to implementing an individual mandate in our state in a brief and policy paper.
Ellen Andrews