- - By Jacqueline Nappo

Another try for a CT public option, a.k.a. The Connecticut Plan

By Lynne Ide

If you track Connecticut efforts to provide better health care choices for people, you’ll know the pattern:  Every time we get close to passing a bold plan BIG insurance steps in and stops it. 

This year state legislators have the opportunity to pass a bold new law that will open up new choices for small businesses, nonprofit organizations, and individuals to buy with the Connecticut Plan. They need to hear from you that you support it. 

Far too many people are still not able to get the care they need at a price they can afford. 

Insurance Committee co-chairs, Senator Matt Lesser and Representative Sean Scanlon, are working with State Comptroller Kevin Lembo to offer a new bill, called The Connecticut Plan.

  

The Connecticut Plan (Senate Bill 346) will take a bold step forward, offering health plans to: 

  • Small businesses with 50 or fewer employees 
  • Nonprofit organizations of any size 
  • Individuals who purchase their own coverage
  • Unions with Taft-Hartley health plans 

This bill offers employers and individuals the choice to buy a health plan that:

  • Does not have high deductibles 
  • Offers a range of health plan options from a quality-first network to the benefits included in the state employee plan 
  • Provides the benefit of pooling with more employers to have more bargaining power and keep rates in check 
  • Requires no long-term commitment to stay in the plan 

Stand with us on March 5.  Join the fight for the Connecticut Plan:  

  • Attend the press conference at 11 am 
  • Testify at the noon public hearing  
  • Submit written testimony 

Take action here.

Don’t let history repeat itself!  Connecticut must bold take action on health care.  

Our elected leaders have tried before and ultimately caved to insurance industry threats. 

In 2009, it was the landmark SustiNet law, which would have created a state “public option.”  Legislators overrode a veto from Governor Rell – and the law ultimately was not implemented by Governor Malloy, because the insurance industry threatened catastrophe.  Instead the state opted to focus on implementing the 2010 federal Affordable Care Act.  

In 2019, another attempt at passing a “public option” fell short in the final week of the legislative session.  Once again, elected leaders got cold feet when CIGNA threatened to move its headquarters out of state if the bill was passed.