The Connecticut Health Care Security Act is a good single-payer model for other states to follow.
TheAct would have insured payment for all medically necessary services, medications, and long term care for all residents of the State of Connecticut. The bill sought to put decisions about health care in the hands of licensed health caregivers and their patients without insurer pre-approval.
The Act intended to lower health care costs by mandating reductions in administrative costs and purchasing medications and durable medical equipment in bulk. Additional administrative savings would have been sought by determining fees for health caregivers, establishing global budgets for health care organizations, coordinating state wide medical services, consolidating health care insurance programs, and other actions.
Year-to-year funding was to be obtained from existing state and federal health care funds as well as employer health care payroll taxes, family health care income taxes, and excise taxes on activities detrimental to health.
TheAct mandated that the cost to the average large employer be equal to or less than current health care insurance expenses. The payroll taxes of smaller employers were to be progressively decreased from the amount paid by large employers, as a function of the number of their employees, in order to assure affordability. Health care insurance premiums were be collected only from those families whose income was above 185% of the federal poverty level. Premiums for families were constrained so that the average family would pay an amount less than the cost of their current insurance program and less than the cost of private insurance for those benefits of the Act not covered by their current insurance program.
More Information:
- View the full text of The Connecticut Health Care Security Act
- Connecticut Coalition for Universal Health Care – provides many resources on Connecticut’s efforts on universal health care coverage.
- New Rules Projects section on State Single-Payer Universal Health Care Efforts