Page 2 - Ted Doolittle News Today

A bill to allow CT trade associations to offer group insurance plans failed to gather enough support. Many patient advocacy groups opposed it.

The deal would, among other things, ban certain terms in contracts between health care providers and insurers deemed ‘anti-competitive.’

The amended bill, a priority for Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont that sought to curb health care costs, could be voted on Tuesday.

A new version of a bill to allow industry associations to offer group health plans got a boost from CT health care advocate Ted Doolittle.

Lawmakers in Connecticut are bracing for a legislative confrontation pitting two of the state’s most powerful industries directly at odds over health care costs

According to data collected and analyzed by Connecticut's Office of Health Strategy, the state's health care costs rose by nearly two times Gov. Ned Lamont's 3.4% benchmark goal from 2020 to 2021.

Last year, dozens of Connecticut residents and state officials confronted the insurance industry at a public hearing over its proposed annual rate hikes, which averaged more than 20% for individual health plans and roughly 15% for small group plans. The insurance companies said they had to raise rates or they’d lose money, pointing to the ballooning cost of health care services.  This year, for the first time, those health care providers had to respond to a similar grilling. 

CT's insurance companies and health care systems are at odds in a push to rein in costs for the state's residents.

Millions of Americans are blindsided by hospital bills for doctor appointments that didn’t require setting foot inside a hospital. Lawmakers in eight states, including Colorado, are considering measures to limit facility fees.

When Brittany Tesso’s then-3-year-old son, Roman, needed an evaluation for speech therapy in 2021, his pediatrician referred him to Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora. With in-person visits on hold due to the covid-19 pandemic, the...