August 6, 2009
From:
The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations
Contact: Susan Kniep, President
Website: http://ctact.org/
Email: fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone: 860-841-8032
GOT HEALTHCARE?
CONNECTICUT STATE TAXPAYERS ARE PAYING
OVER $5 BILLION FOR HEALTHCARE IN 2009!
Tomorrow,
August 7, 2009, the State’s Insurance Department will rule on Anthem’s 22% to
30% Rate Request Increase!
The healthcare debate has been fueled with passion by both
those who support a reformed national healthcare policy and those who are
opposed.
Relevant to the debate should be what taxpayers on a local,
state and national level are currently paying for government subsidized
healthcare as costs continue to escalate.
In Connecticut,
state taxpayers are paying over $5 billion to provide healthcare to prisoners,
state employees, state retirees, Medicaid recipients, and others as the
following chart illustrates.
Anthem Rate Increase: Tomorrow, August 7, 2009, the
State’s Insurance Department will rule on Anthem’s 22% to 30% Rate Request
Increase!
On July 8, 2009 newspapers reported that State Attorney
General Richard Blumenthal had joined with others to protest the request of
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of
Connecticut to the State Insurance Department for a 22% to 30% percent rate increase which would
impact 55,000 Connecticut residents.
Blumenthal not only denounced the size of the increase but stated
“Equally unconscionable is (the) proposed effective date of Oct. 1, giving
consumers less than three months to find less expensive, viable
alternatives.” Newspapers also reported
that “According to company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
WellPoint, Anthem’s Indianapolis-based parent company, reported net income of
$580.4 million in the first quarter of 2009 and recorded total assets of $49.4
billion. “The rate increase is particularly concerning given that Angela Braly,
CEO of Anthem’s parent company, Wellpoint, received over $9.8 million in
compensation in 2008 alone.....”
State of Connecticut
Healthcare Costs: The Federation extends a sincere note of
appreciation to State Comptroller Nancy Wyman for the efficiency of her staff
when replying to requests. The
Federation had asked for and received information on what State taxpayer are
paying for healthcare in 2009 which totals over $5 billion, as illustrated in
the chart below…..
Department
|
Amount
|
CME49500 Off of the Chief Med
Examiner
|
5,666,108
|
DDS50000 Dept Of Developmental
Services
|
970,321,477
|
DPH48500 Department of Public
Health
|
101,058,573
|
HCA49000 Office of Health Care
Access
|
2,154,414
|
MHA53000 Mental Health &
Addiction Svcs
|
582,994,915
|
PSR56000 Psych Security Review
Board
|
344,474
|
Medicaid- State Share
|
1,925,845,400
|
HUSKY Program- State Share
|
14,174,856
|
Pharmacy Assistance Elderly
|
31,464,032
|
DISH Hospital Payments
|
105,935,000
|
Hospital Medical Emergency
Assistance
|
53,725,000
|
Urban Hospitals
|
31,550,000
|
Hospital Hardship
|
7,952,900
|
Medicare Part D supplement
|
25,264,058
|
State Employees Health Service
|
489,278,029
|
Retired State Employees Health Services
|
434,565,329
|
UCONN Health Center
|
127,706,498
|
Retired Teachers-Medicare
Supplement
|
14,548,169
|
Retired Teachers Health Town Subsidy
|
7,885,215
|
Prison Inmate Medical Services
|
103,194,273
|
Psychiatric Clinics for
Children
|
14,127,881
|
Total
|
5,049,756,602
|
Healthcare options for State
employees and more….. http://www.osc.state.ct.us/empret/indxhlth.htm
***************
On a Federal level, in 2008, Taxpayers paid approximately $15 Billion to insure
8.5 million Federal workers and their dependents.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-congress-benefits2-2009aug02,0,7524121.story
***************
On a Local level, taxpayers are paying approximately 80% to 85% of the healthcare
premiums for Town and Board of Education employees and their families not only
during their employment but upon retirement.
***************
Pew Study Finds States Face
$2.73 Trillion Bill for Retiree Benefits Washington,
D.C. - 12/18/2007
View the Full Report and the individual state and national
fact sheets.
States have promised at least $2.73 trillion in pension,
health care and other retirement benefits for public employees over the next
three decades, according to a report released today by The Pew Charitable
Trusts’ Center on the States. Promises with a Price, the first 50-state
analysis of its kind, finds that states have saved enough to cover about 85
percent of their long-term pension costs, but only 3 percent of the funds
needed for promised retiree health care and other non-pension benefits. All
told, states already have set aside about $2 trillion to meet their long-term
obligations. But they still need to come up with about $731 billion—a
conservative figure that does not include all costs for teachers and local
government employees.
Ø States face a $2.73 trillion bill for public
sector retiree benefits
Ø Public sector retiree benefits are still
underfunded by about $731 billion.
Ø Half of that amount, or
$370 billion, is needed for future retirees’ health care and other non-pension
benefits, such as dental and life insurance.
View the Pew report: http://www.pewtrusts.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=32368
Pew reports on Connecticut
pensions, retiree healthcare, etc…. http://www.pewtrusts.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/Fact_Sheets/State_policy/FINAL_Connecticut.pdf
***************
National Healthcare Bill: H.R.3200
Click to
Access: HR3200: America's Affordable
Health Choices Act of 2009
Research Other Congressional Issues….. http://thomas.loc.gov/
**************
Congress' Own Health Care
Benefits: Membership Has Its Privileges
Mark Z. Barabak and Faye Fiore, The Los Angeles Times: "Lawmakers can choose
among several plans and get special treatment at federal medical facilities. In
2008, taxpayers spent about $15 billion to insure 8.5 million federal workers
and their dependents." Continued …. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-congress-benefits2-2009aug02,0,7524121.story
**************
The Associated Press: Lobbyists the silver lining in health
care storm? July 25, 2009 ... Health care companies poured $484 million
into lobbying efforts . …The industry groups have invested heavily
to make sure their views get taken into account. The health care sector gave
$167 million in campaign contributions to congressional candidates in the 2008
election cycle, according to the watchdog group OpenSecrets.org. Health care companies poured
$484 million into lobbying efforts in 2008, and are on pace to exceed that this
year. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5igfa8hbGjdOo8cuFoH1aPuwmHBWwD99LG6BO0
**************
From The National Taxpayers Union
The National Taxpayers Union (NTU) denounces Healthcare Bill …. http://blog.ntu.org/main/post.php?post_id=4801
View NTU YouTube video which promotes a Call to Action.
House Democrats' Health Plan
Contains Words of Coercion -- not Choice -- Text Analysis Shows http://www.ntu.org/main/press.php?PressID=1108&org_name=NTUF
**************
Whistleblower tells of
America's hidden nightmare for its sick poor
Wendell Potter can remember exactly when he took the first steps on his journey
to becoming a whistleblower and turning against one of the most powerful
industries in America. It was July 2007 and Potter, a senior executive at giant
US healthcare firm Cigna,
was visiting relatives in the poverty-ridden mountain districts of northeast Tennessee. He saw an
advert in a local paper for a touring free medical clinic at a fairground just
across the state border in Wise County,
Virginia.
Potter, who had worked at Cigna for 15 years, decided to
check it out. What he saw appalled him. Hundreds of desperate people, most
without any medical insurance, descended on the clinic from out of the hills.
People queued in long lines to have the most basic medical procedures carried out
free of charge. Some had driven more than 200 miles from Georgia. Many
were treated in the open air. Potter took pictures of patients lying on
trolleys on rain-soaked pavements. Continued at ….
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/26/us-healthcare-obama-barack-change
**************
HEALTHCARE:
POINT, COUNTER POINT…..
Commentary: Health bill could handicap
small businesses Story Highlights By John
Boehner, Special to CNN
John Boehner: Small businesses have provided jobs and
benefits to many
Story Highlights:
He says Democratic plan for health care could eliminate jobs
He says small companies could opt to drop coverage for
employees
Boehner: Republican plan would build on what works in health
care
Editor's note: Rep. John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, is the House
minority leader.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Before I was
elected to Congress, I ran a small plastics packaging business in Cincinnati,
Ohio, providing products and services, creating jobs and meeting payroll.
Thanks to the 1974 Employee Retirement Income Security Act
(ERISA), which shields employers who offer benefits to their employees from
being pummeled by laws that vary from state to state, I was also able to offer
health care and pension benefits to my employees.
As every small-business owner knows, this can be quite a
balancing act, but I count it as one of the most rewarding times of my life --
a time that led to my service in Congress.
Continued at …. http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/07/31/boehner.health.care/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
Commentary: Health reform too good to
pass up By Steny Hoyer
Special to CNN July
30l, 2009
Story Highlights
Rep. Steny Hoyer: Health reform is an opportunity too good
to miss
He says Democratic plan will provide peace of mind for
patients
He says it will provide affordable coverage and quality care
Hoyer: If reform fails, we'll be left with broken system we
can't afford
Editor's note: Steny Hoyer, a Democrat from Maryland, is the House
majority leader.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- History shows that the chance to reform
the American health care system is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. So
reform is absolutely worth the time it takes to get it right.
That's why Democrats are subjecting their plan to bring
affordable health care to all Americans to intense scrutiny, and that's why
we're going home to hear from our constituents, adding to the more than 550
health care town hall meetings and public events that have already taken place
this year.
But there is also a distinct urgency to our work -- an
urgency fired by an understanding that the most disastrous health plan is a
simple extension of the status quo.
If reform splutters, we'll be left with a broken,
unsustainable system, with health costs set to double over the next 10 years,
and millions of more Americans projected to lose their coverage. As rising
costs and rapidly-consolidating insurance giants strip coverage from more middle-class
families, the costs of inaction will mount every year. Continued at …. http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/07/31/hoyer.health.reform/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
*************************
The Hidden Truth Behind Drug
Company Profits
Johann Hari, The Independent UK, August 5,
2009: "This is the story of one of the great unspoken scandals of our
times. Today, the people across the world who most need life-saving medicine
are being prevented from producing it. Here's the latest example: factories
across the poor world are desperate to start producing their own cheaper
Tamiflu to protect their populations - but they are being sternly told not to.
Why? So rich drug companies can protect their patents - and
profits. There is an alternative to this sick system, but we are
choosing to ignore it." http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-the-hidden-truth-behind-drug-company-profits-1767257.html
***************
Following the Money in the
Health Care Debate, New York Times, ….. Mr. Obama’s proposal is only one of many
that await Congress as it wrestles with how to rein in exploding health care
costs while taking care of the country’s nearly 50 million uninsured. The size
and complexity of the issue are daunting. To help understand what’s going on,
you need to follow the money.
Roughly $2.5 trillion is at stake, the amount the nation
spends each year on health care, nearly a fifth of the American economy. How
that money is divided up — or prevented from rising at its current pace — is at
the center of the debate. Many doctors, insurance companies and drug companies
say they fear that their revenues could shrink significantly and patient care
could be threatened. Continued …. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/weekinreview/14abelson.html?_r=1