Malloy Goes Universal

by Paul Bass | June 7, 2006 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What a difference a campaign makes: Now both candidates running for the Democratic gubernatorical nomination support universal health care. Dannel Malloy previously offered a plan for just partial expansion of health care coverage in Connecticut, to 71,000 uninsured children. Wednesday he announced the Malloy Health Care Plan 2.0, which covers everybody, including adults. He's scrambling to catch up with the other Democratic candidate, John DeStefano, who has received a positive response by making his own universal health care plan the policy centerpiece of his campaign. Malloy's plan differs in how to pay for it (a cigarette tax hike, future budget surpluses), but not in the basic concept of universal coverage. Click here to read his campaign's release summarizing the plan; click here to read the whole plan. Click here to find out how to get more involved in the universal health care issue.

"The question is no longer whether or not we need universal health care. The question is how we get there," said Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut President Juan Figueroa in a prepared statement released after Malloy's announced. Figueroa praised the Malloy plan's focus on the working uninsured. (Disclosure: The foundation is one of the charitable donors to the not-for-profit organization that publishes this website.)

"Like the plan proposed by ... John Destefano, the Malloy proposal emphasizes features such as portability, expanding access to all residents, cost reduction and wellness," Figueroa stated. "The Malloy and DeStefano plans differ in financing, delivery and other details that merit closer analysis. However, by submitting potentially viable statewide options, both of these gubernatorial candidates have helped to advance a much-needed public discussion on health care policy and issues."