Democrats eye tax on insurers to fund broader health reform package
Cars queue for Covid-19 testing at Hartford Hospital’s drive-through sampling site on Hudson Street.
Tapping into frustrations over the rising cost of health coverage and a lack of access to care, Democratic lawmakers in Connecticut are planning a package of reforms aimed at reducing expenses for people who buy their health insurance through the state’s exchange and making coverage more affordable for small businesses.
At the center of the proposal is a plan to revive the Health Insurance Providers Fee, more commonly known as the Health Insurance Tax – a tax on carriers created under the Affordable Care Act to help fund federal and state marketplace exchanges. Congress repealed the federal tax on insurers in 2019; the rollback is effective this month.
By Keith M. Phaneuf // CTMirror.org
• Jan 11, 2021 JOE RAEDLE / Getty Images
The pandemic-induced recession has left Connecticut legislators with one of their tightest credit card limits in recent history less than one-seventh their 2020 level.
But it remains to be seen whether they’ll accept that or challenge both Gov. Ned Lamont and Wall Street to borrow more to assist colleges, businesses, municipalities and social services.
“I supported the ‘debt diet’ during the beginning of the Lamont administration,” said Rep. Sean Scanlon, D-Guilford, new House chairman of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee. “I thought that what the governor was doing basically pressing the pause button on bonding was a good thing. But I think the needs have changed.”
By Keith M. Phaneuf, CT Mirror
The pandemic-induced recession has left Connecticut legislators with one of their tightest credit card limits in recent history less than one-seventh their 2020 level.
But it remains to be seen whether they’ll accept that or challenge both Gov. Ned Lamont and Wall Street to borrow more to assist colleges, businesses, municipalities and social services.
“I supported the ‘debt diet’ during the beginning of the Lamont administration,” said Rep. Sean Scanlon, D-Guilford, new House chairman of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee. “I thought that what the governor was doing basically pressing the pause button on bonding was a good thing. But I think the needs have changed.”
Connecticut lawmakers are returning to the state Capitol building at least physically for opening day to kick off a new legislative session that's expected to focus on the continuing.
Connecticut is in deep trouble. Very deep trouble.
From 1997 to 2008, Connecticut arguably had the strongest economy in the nation, growing in real terms 3% compounded annually; on a per capita basis expanding 30% faster than the national rate.
But since 2008, Connecticut has had the worst state economy, shrinking 9.1% before a modest recovery; in Feb. 2020, before the pandemic, the state’s economy was below its 2006 level, and employment 17,000 under its previous peak.
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Fred Carstensen, Economist, UConn
In contrast, New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island enjoyed robust growth, well exceeding previous peaks in output and employment.
Such a sharp contrast in performance has multiple drivers, but most salient has been Connecticut’s disconnect from the data-driven, digitally-dependent modern economy. The clearest evidence was the nearly 25% contraction in the data-intensive finance/insurance sector and the virtual absence of growth in Connecticut in IT-specific occupati