New Haven Independent

SENATOR HARRIS LEADS PASSAGE OF

‘SUSTINET’ HEALTH CARE REFORM BILL

HARTFORD - State Senator Jonathan A. Harris (D-West Hartford), the
Co-Chairman of the Public Health Committee, led the passage in the
Senate today of legislation which could ultimately led to a major reform
of Connecticut’s broken health care system, thereby addressing one of
the most expensive and critical aspects of daily life for millions of
state residents.

The bill, AN ACT CONCERNING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SUSTINET PLAN,
passed the Senate today on a 23-12 vote. It passed the House on a 107-35
vote on May 20 and now heads to the governor’s desk for her signature.

The legislation presents a comprehensive plan to lower the cost of
health care, expand access to quality care, and virtually eliminate the
uninsured.

“We have people from all across Connecticut who have a stake in the
success of this plan - patients, doctors, hospitals, insurance companies
and businesses,” Sen. Harris said. “Sustinet picks a path, links us with
federal reforms and federal dollars, and leaves it to future legislators
to implement the specifics of a delivery system.

“We already have universal health care in Connecticut, but it’s not
working. It’s sick care. It’s the ER,” he continued. “People who can’t
afford or don’t have health insurance don’t take care of themselves, and
when they get sick they end up in the hospital emergency room with their
bills paid for by the taxpayers of Connecticut. This Sustinet plan
addresses cost, quality, access and coverage, and it does so in a more
humane, more efficient, and more cost-effective manner than any other
proposal to date.”

The legislation, House Bill 6600, creates a nine-member “SustiNet Health
Partnership Board of Directors” that must make recommendations to the
legislature by January 1, 2011 on the details and implementation of a
self-insured health-care delivery plan.

These recommendations must include:

* The establishment of a public authority with the power to
contract with insurers and health care providers, develop a health-care
infrastructure (“medical homes”), set reimbursement rates, create
advisory committees, and encourage the use of health information
technology;
* Slowing the growth of per-capita health care spending both in
the short-term and in the long-term
* A phased-in offering of the SustiNet Plan to state employees and
retirees, HUSKY A and B beneficiaries, people without employer-
sponsored insurance (ESI), people with unaffordable ESI, small and large
employers, and others ;
* Guidelines for the development of a model benefits package;
* Public outreach and methods of identifying uninsured citizens