I-Team In-Depth

Should You Take The Health Care Tax Hit?

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Time is running out for thousands of uninsured Connecticut residents who must decide whether to comply with a federal mandate to buy health insurance starting Jan. 1, 2014 or pay a penalty instead. “We are undertaking a paradigm shift in how we think about health insurance,” said Dan M. Smolnik, a tax attorney from Brookfield. “We don’t know for sure how people in Connecticut will respond. But I think the majority will weigh the risks of not having health insurance and make a rational decision that isn’t purely based on economics.

Disparities

First-of-its-kind Health Care Forum Brings Together Providers, Patients

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‘Patient-centric care’ is one of those catch phrases that have little grounding in real-world patient-provider encounters. But later this month, hundreds of Connecticut health care consumers and clinicians will come together for a first-of-its-kind conference that aims to foster patient engagement in medical care. “Better Health: Everyone’s Responsibility,” set for Sept. 17 at the Connecticut Convention Center, Hartford, is a step in bringing patients and providers together to discuss joint decision-making in medical care – from medication management, to end-of-life care, to navigating provisions of the Affordable Care Act. The goal of the summit – open to the public – is to break down barriers between providers and the people they serve, by giving both sides a crash course in key health-care issues and effective ways of communicating.

Disparities

Can Obamacare Close The Longevity Gap?

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If you’re 65 and living in Connecticut, you can expect – on average – roughly 16 more years of good health, according to a new federal study. In fact, the state ranks number seven for healthy seniors, says another study, this one from the United Health Foundation. That’s if you’re white. If you’re African American, your healthy life expectancy drops to 12 years, or age 77. And from other studies, Hispanics and Latinos don’t fare much better.

Disparities

Report: Seniors Saw Big Savings On Prescription Drugs Under Health Care Law

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Since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted three years ago this week, Connecticut seniors have saved a total of $84 million on prescription drugs, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Thursday. Connecticut Medicare recipients have saved an average of $1,174, according to the HHS’ press release. Nationally, HHS said the savings have hit more than $6 billion for 6.3 million people with Medicare since the ACA became law on March 23, 2010. Advocates say the health care law is making Part D prescription drug coverage more affordable by gradually closing what is known as the “donut hole.”  This is the gap in coverage where beneficiaries were paying the full cost of prescriptions out of pocket while also paying premiums.

Frances G. Padilla, president of the Universal Health Care Foundation, said the announcement was good news. “This is one of the real advantages of the Affordable Care Act,’’ she said.

Fines & Sanctions

State Recovers $8.7 Million, Health And Accident Insurance Complaints Top List

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Consumers with health and accident insurance complaints were among the top beneficiaries of the $8.7 million recovered by the Connecticut Insurance Department for policyholders and state taxpayers in 2012, the state agency announced Thursday. More than half of the $4.1 million recovered for policyholders by the Department’s Consumer Affairs Unit – a total of $2.1 million – stemmed from consumer complaints over health and accident insurance with unfair claims practices leading the list of offenses by insurance carriers. The Department’s Market Conduct division levied more than $4.6 million in fines against carriers with the money going back to the state General Fund. The fines resulted from various violations and settlements from untimely claim payments to improper licensing. The state’s Consumer Affairs Unit fielded more than 6,100 complaints and inquiries in 2012, including 2,143 from residents with questions about health and accident insurance.

Disparities

New Benefits, Taxes Under The Affordable Care Act

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For consumers, the new year brings changes in the Affordable Care Act ranging from limits on itemized deductions and flexible spending accounts to Medicare-related tax increases and standardized forms that describe benefits in plain English. In many ways, Connecticut leads the nation in implementing reform from establishing an online marketplace to purchase health insurance and expanding Medicaid coverage to low-income adults to generating millions of dollars in savings for consumers with coverage issues. Changes coming in 2013 and 2014 include:

Limits On Itemized Tax Deductions: The rules for itemizing deductions on federal income tax returns have changed. Beginning 2013, taxpayers can claim deductions for medical expenses not covered by health insurance when they reach 10 percent of adjusted gross income, up from 7.5 percent. The law waives the increase for those 65 years and older for tax years 2013 through 2016.

Fines & Sanctions

State Hospitals Face 2nd Highest Rate Of Federal Penalties Nationwide

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Connecticut fared second-worst in the country in the percentage of hospitals hit with federal penalties for selected quality-of-care measures and in the overall rate of loss of Medicare reimbursements associated with those penalties, new federal data shows. Eighty-six percent of the state’s 30 acute-care hospitals were penalized under Medicare’s Value-Based Purchasing Program, an incentive program created under the Affordable Care Act to reward hospitals on a number of quality measures related to treatment of patients with heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and certain surgical issues, as well as patient satisfaction. Overall, the state’s hospitals lost .15 percent of their Medicare reimbursement, compared to a .02 percent average loss nationally, the data shows. In addition to the penalties on quality measures, 23 Connecticut hospitals lost Medicare funding because of high rates of readmitting patients within 30 days of a hospital stay. Four faced the maximum loss, a 1 percent reduction in funding: Griffin Hospital in Derby, the Hospital of St.

Women's Health

Each Baby: Wanted, Loved And Planned

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We’re doing something wrong, but it’s fixable now. For years, researchers have said that among industrialized countries, the U.S. has the highest rate of unintended pregnancies, at 49 percent. Such pregnancies are even higher among poor, low-income, and less-educated women. Intended pregnancies tend to signal a family’s readiness for the huge transition brought by the addition of a new member. Intended pregnancies tend to be healthier, and require less public funds outlay.

Affordable Care Act

Pay As You Go Health Care

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Joyce Hodgson has always worked and at times she’s had excellent health insurance. Five years ago, she became executive director of Little Theatre of Manchester at Cheney Hall, where she is the only paid person on staff – and has no health insurance.

Affordable Care Act

CT Is “Hell-Yes’’ On Medicaid

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Governors in some of the states with the highest rate of uninsured people – including Louisiana, Texas, and Florida – insist they’ll opt out of the Medicaid expansion offered under the Affordable Care Act – or Obamacare. One political website (Politico.com) calls them the “hell-no” states.