Busy morning speaks to important priorities, like health care and education.

This morning was one of those times, as a state legislator, when I had to try to be in three places at the same time.  This is pretty common, but this morning's events struck me in that they touch on some very important values – like health care and education – the support for which is in real question in the difficult budget debate underway right now.

One event was a visit to the Cedarcrest Hospital in Newington, which is a state mental health facility that Gov. Rell's administration is trying to shut down.  Many people have real concerns her decision to remove these important services will result in people with significant mental health needs falling through the cracks and into desperate situations without the help they need.

On top of this, Gov. Rell is proposing deep cuts to nursing homes and hospitals.  Nursing homes have already been reeling – closing down and reducing staff because of years of funding that has not kept up with rising costs.  Now, Gov. Rell proposes a devastating blow to them.

Meanwhile, hospitals, which are struggling because, in the bad economy, more people without health insurance need their services.  Gov. Rell's cuts would seriously damage hospitals at just a time when we really need them.

Another important event was a meeting at New Britain General Hospital between local early childhood education advocates and the Graustein Memorial Fund.  The Graustein Fund has made a very significant commitment of funds to the program that I wrote about earlier, directed at improving education, well-being and prospects in life for very young children.

The problem is that the funding from the Graustein Fund is matching funding and it depends on the state keeping its own funding commitment.  That is why it is so unfortunate that Gov. Rell's plans call for cutting this important matching funds.  Gov. Rell's plan would cut a good number of things that benefit children like the Children's Trust Fund, early childhood education services, pre-natal services, after school programming, libraries and more.

There is a lot of unfortunate rhetoric that has been thrown around in the budget debate.  For example, Democrats in the state legislature have made billions of dollars of cuts in the state budget – many difficult cuts – but Gov. Rell and fellow Republicans keep falsely saying that there have not been budget cuts.

Just as bad is rhetoric that talks about budget frugality in pithy political terms in  sound bites on the evening news, but ignores the importance of the services that, in the real world, that are being cut and the harm caused when they are gone or greatly reduced.

We need leadership in our state that rises above this and helps us to approve a budget that balances the budget, not just in dollars and cents, but in the values we all should share.

Sustinet becomes law while Health Care Partnership blocked.

Health care reform scored a victory last week with approval of the Sustinet legislation.  The legislature overrode the veto of Gov. M. Jodi Rell to make this health care reform legislation law.

The Sustinet legislation provides for the creation of a comprehensive health care system in Connecticut to provide affordable quality health care.  The final health plan created under the Sustinet process will require final approval of the legislature, and the planning process created under the legislation will make Connecticut ready for the health care reform under debate in Congress.

This an important victory for the people of our state.  It is finally a great step toward toward affordable quality health care.

The state House of Representatives also overrode Gov. Rell's veto of the Health Care Partnership legislation, but the state Senate fell one vote short of the needed 24 votes to make the legislation law.  The Health Partnership would save municipalities and small businesses money by opening the state health pool to them.

The Health Care Partnership legislation could save New Britain taxpayers $900,000 a year.  And it would help small businesses to save money and create jobs.  All elected officials should be in support of this legislation to save taxpayers and small businesses money.

The people of our state won a good victory on affordable quality health care. But, between the implementation of Sustinet and the need to win on the Health Care Partnership, there is still more work to do to achieve affordable quality health care for all.

Bysiewicz and state delegation advocate for health care.

Members of the New Britain legislative delegation and Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz met at the New Britain YMCA with business and non-profit organizations to advocate for increased health care access. As reported on Bristol Today:

LEGISLATORS AND SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS WORK TO PUSH DOWN HEALTH CARE COSTS

State Representatives John Geragosian (D-New Britain), Peter Tercyak (D-New Britain), Tim O’Brien (D-New Britain) andBetty Boukus (D-Plainville, New Britain)  joined Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz Tuesday at a regional roundtable with area small business owners an non-profits to discuss business-friendly health care policies that will help New Britain area companies thrive. 

The General Assembly is currently debating legislation to save small businesses thousands of dollars annually in employee health care costs. The plan would open the state employee health insurance plan to small businesses, municipal employees and non-profits. 

Rep. Geragosian said, “You save money when you buy in bulk.  That is the simple principle behind the Connecticut Healthcare Partnership.  If you were able to join the huge state employee health care pool, your costs would drop dramatically.”

There are currently more than 200,000 people in the state insurance pool. 

New Britain residents Amy Gladysz and her husband John, owners of Orbitech Satellite Services in Plainville, have seen their premiums multiply over the last several years.

“We pay thousands of dollars a year for our insurance policy, but the prescription limits are so low, that we spend thousands of dollars more for the medication we need to stay healthy” Amy Gladysz said, “If our business had access to the state plan, we would save substantially on out of pocket expenses.”

Rep. Tercyak said, “Between co-pays and yearly benefit maximums too many folks are finding that their insurance isn't adequate.  One local business owner has insurance, she told me, but she's developed diabetes and now she learns that she her yearly maximum only covers three months of meds and testing supplies.  Three months.  We can do better than that for her and for other business people.  I say they deserve the choice.  I'm sure a lot of them will find the state employees' insurance options are comprehensive, attractive choices.”   

“The implementation of health care pooling will provide an opportunity for thousands of our fellow citizens to be able to obtain quality health care protection at an affordable cost," Rep. O'Brien said. “Municipalities, small businesses and non-profits will be able to participate and that participation will be voluntary, not mandatory. This is a landmark first step to that needs to be taken now.”

Rep. Boukus said, “Health care costs are making it difficult for businesses to grow and provide jobs in our communities. Government must improve the business climate and lowering health care costs is a good place to start.”

Thomas Morrow, Executive Director of Bristol Community Organization, said that like many small businesses and non-profits, BCO has seen its healthcare costs skyrocket over the last several years. In order to continue offering health benefits, the agency was forced to increase the employee-paid share, by switching to health savings accounts (HSAs).

“My employees complained that health savings accounts were too onerous to navigate and the out-of-pocket costs were too high. The following year, we offered a traditional plan in addition to HSAs and every employee opted into the traditional plan, even though the premiums were higher,” Morrow said. “Having access to the state plan would bring our costs down, while enabling us to offer our staff the quality health benefits they deserve.”

The lawmakers met with businesses owners Tuesday at the New Britain YMCA.

State health readiness concerning swine flu.

Some people have asked me about the steps the state is taking to be ready for and respond to the swine flu. Here is information I have received from the state Department of Public Health:

Below please find the link to the Department of Public Health website .  As you will see, we continue to update this website as information becomes available.  We know that you will be getting calls from constituents, physicians and those linked to the schools and thought this information would be helpful to you. 

DPH is currently conducting daily conference calls with CT Hospitals and Community Health Centers and local health directors, as well as our sister agencies.  We are working with DSS, CT State Medical Society and other partners to distribute the information that pertains to physicians.  We have also worked with the State Department of Education to distribute the school guidelines to CT schools.

www.ct.gov/ctfluwatch/swineflu

If you have any questions you would like to ask about this or concerns you would like me to address, certainly feel free to ask me.

Rising prescription costs - with a lot spent on advertising.

There was an informational hearing recently in the legislature's Public Health Committee on the effect of marketing on the prices of medications. Drug prices have been growing over time, so it is important to understand why.

What is astonishing, as you can see in the slide presentation below, is just how much we pay for drugs goes to pay for advertising and marketing.



This report says that 32.8% of the price of medications we pay for goes to advertising, marketing and general administration. The report says that, by comparison only 14% of what we pay goes to drug research and development and 25.3% goes to the actual manufacturing of the medications.

Most of us have seen all of those expensive, polished television commercials promoting different drugs. It looks like we are paying, and paying a lot, for those commercials when we buy our medications.

This information is from the Prescription Project (www.prescriptionproject.org).

The local cost of the War in Iraq.

Sorry that I have not had time to write on the blog recently. I have been very busy at the Capitol. When I have a moment, I will write more details about what has been happening.

In the meantime, here is some notable information. There has been a lot of discussion about the monetary cost of the War in Iraq. The cost is so staggering - with at least one estimate of $3,000,000,000,000 - that the numbers are hard to conceive. However, thanks to the National Priorities Project, we can see some local estimate of the money cost of the War.

For example, here is what the War in Iraq is expected to cost New Britain in the 2009 budget year:

Taxpayers in New Britain, Connecticut will pay $54.4 million for projected Iraq War Spending for FY 2009. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

17,985 People with Health Care OR

67,211 Homes with Renewable Electricity OR

1,074 Public Safety Officers OR

729 Music and Arts Teachers OR

6,510 Scholarships for University Students OR

2 New Elementary Schools OR

261 Affordable Housing Units OR

20,900 Children with Health Care OR

7,556 Head Start Places for Children OR

751 Elementary School Teachers OR

662 Port Container Inspectors

Or, this same amount of money could be used to cut property taxes in half.

Video update with goals for the legislative session.

Here is a video update I recorded last December. For a number of reasons, I never got it uploaded until just now. But, if you will forgive the reference to the holiday season, most the discussion is still very relevant...

Lower property taxes with better healthcare...the Donovan plan comes to New Britain.

State House Majority Leader Chris Donovan came to New Britain yesterday evening to talk about a proposal he has that would provide both lower property taxes and build a plan that could be used to offer good quality health care coverage at an affordable price to businesses and their workers.

The idea is very simple. The state is able to get a low price for a very good health plan for state workers because it is buying for many thousands of people. But Connecticut's 169 cities and towns each have their own separate employee health care plans, so they end up paying more to cover each employee than the state pays - often thousands of dollars more per worker.

So the idea is to let municipalities buy the same health coverage at the same low price that the state pays. This could save massive amounts of money, allowing city and town governments to have lower property taxes.

Rep. Donovan is trying to find out just how much it would save New Britain taxpayers. Council Majority Leader Micheal Trueworthy is working to get information Rep. Donovan needs to calculate what New Britain taxpayers' savings would be.

The New Britain Herald is coming out with an article on Donovan's press event tomorrow. The article is already online. One surprising thing in the article is that, even with the potential for such large taxpayer savings, New Britain Mayor Timothy Stewart has precipitously dismissed it out of hand:

But Stewart wasn’t buying it.

“Donovan can pedal his dog-and-pony show somewhere else. They want AFSCME to control this thing. Well, not here. This is an issue between me and my unions — not Chris Donovan.”

It is important to find and cut real waste to save taxpayers' money. So, I certainly hope Mayor Stewart changes his mind.

Of course, this idea has possibilities that go beyond lowering property taxes.

Specifically, if lower priced, quality health care coverage can be offered to city and town governments, shouldn't it also be offered to businesses and their workers?

If we could let businesses in our state offer their employees a good health plan at potentially less than they are paying now, that would make our state more competitive in the world economy. And it could be a great benefit to small businesses and the self-employed, who are getting crushed by rising health care premiums - if they can afford health care coverage at all. All of this would help businesses to create jobs and for the state economy to grow.

Of course, making sure everyone gets good quality health care coverage is a top priority of mine and I have worked hard to get this done. And I would like to get this done - well, yesterday.

But, if the Donovan plan is approved, the truth is that it would be a major step in this direction. So I hope it is approved in the 2008 legislative session.

Health care forum tonight at CCSU.

There was a health care forum tonight at CCSU. Since I have been at the Capitol, I was not able to go. Here is information flyer.

Universal Health Care Forum

When: Tuesday November 27, 2007
6:30 pm
Where: Vance Academic Center RM 105
Why?
This is a chance to see REAL PEOPLE in Connecticut and REAL REASONS why universal health care is a good idea.
Bring your opinions and your appetites.

I wish I was able to make it. If anyone would like to post a comment about the event to let me know how it went, that would be great.

2007 Legislative Report to Citizens of New Britain

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. I have been working to catch-up with things outside of the legislature after the hectic days of the session - like my family.

There are still some loose ends the need to be completed, like the state bond act, but most of what will be approved this year is done.

Now, we are in the time between regular legislative sessions when we can start to build for the next session, which starts in February. I will go more into what issues I plan to work on in the future, but ensuring quality and affordable health care for everyone and property tax reform are certainly high priorities.

Anyway, I wanted to share a press release that was sent out yesterday on many of the accomplishments this year for New Britain...

City Delegation’s 2007 Legislative Report to Citizens of New Britain

The 2007 session of the General Assembly nears its conclusion with action on a two-year budget and many significant pieces of new legislation. Over the last few years, the New Britain legislative delegation has positioned itself on key committees to better secure state assistance for the people of New Britain, Berlin, Plainville, Newington, Bristol and Farmington, all communities we represent.

“I’m proud of the efforts of our delegation to secure significant state revenue increases for our two hospitals and five nursing homes, some of which are our largest employers and tax payers said Senator Donald DeFronzo. “In addition, state aid to the city equates to approximately 4 mills, which will go a long way to help the administration stabilize and reduce local property taxes.”

“There are many ways, big and small, that we were able to help New Britain—grants enabling the city to lower property taxes, support for education, health care, job training, local arts groups and more,” said Representative Tim O’Brien. “The New Britain delegation worked hard this year, and we are ready for more important work to come.”

“We worked hard to help our city and its agencies do the good work that they do,” said Representative John Geragosian. “Unfortunately the Democratic budget did not pass, which would have gone a long way toward tax relief. But the budget we did pass will be good for the city.”

“While so many of the total system changes that were initially introduced were not able to be made this year,” Representative Peter Tercyak said. “It made it extra important to help New Britain in one area after another. I’m very pleased with what we were able to bring home this year. This will make a vitally needed difference, especially for medical care, in New Britain.”

Among the actions approved in the biennial budget that will have a positive and significant effect on the City of New Britain are:

• A $6.5 million increase (the equivalent of 3.2 mils) in ECS educational funding.

• Restoration of approximately $1 million in state grants to New Britain to help limit property tax increases (the equivalent of one half mill).

• A 20 percent increase in hospital Medicaid reimbursements in 2007–2008 and another 10 percent increase in 2008–2009 budget year. This will allow the Hospital of Central Connecticut to stabilize operations, maintain and increase employment, and preserve and enhance the quality of patient care.

• An across- the-board 3 percent increase in Medicaid reimbursement to New Britain nursing homes including Monsignor Bojinowski Manor, Jerome Home, Walnut Hill, Brittany Farms and the Andrew House. These funds will allow these facilities to maintain a high level of patient care.

• A 4 percent across-the-board increase in Medicaid reimbursement to the Hospital for Special Care, providing for a sustained level of operations and quality patient care.

• $1 million in rate relief for emergency medical services providers in the state with high Medicaid caseloads, which includes New Britain Emergency Medical services.

• Important increases in preschool education programs, summer youth employment and after-school programs.

• Expansion of the HUSKY Health Care plan to include more working families, more pregnant women and improved dental services.

• A 3 percent cost-of-living adjustment for nonprofit provider agencies, such as daycare providers, CCARC, CMHA and many other agencies.

• $42 million more in higher education aid over the previous biennium for students who attend public and private in-state colleges.

• $5 million to secure and expand Dial-A-Ride Service for New Britain and area seniors.

• Special legislation to preserve the operation of the Boys and Girls Club summer drop-in recreation program.

• Legislative action to protect Guida’s Dairy from unfair taxation.

• $10 million to CCSU for repairs, alterations and additions to athletic fields and associated support facilities.

• Restoration of nearly $300,000 in Priority School District funding proposed for reduction by Governor M. Jodi Rell.

• Full funding of the access cost of special education when those costs are in excess of 4.5 times local per-pupil expenditure. This will result in an approximate 33 percent increase in funding in this category ($67 million to $125 million).

• A new state grant to offset half the cost of initial Fire Fighter Certification programs.

• A $100,000 grant to the New Britain Arts Alliance.

• A new $4 million competitive grant program in the Office of Culture, Tourism and Arts.

Health Care videos on the web.

This has been a big year for the issue of health care access, with a real possibility of winning legislation to ensure good quality, affordable health care for everyone. And a fair amount of this discussion has made its way onto the web.

Here are some videos with interesting discussion of this important issue...

Thousands rally for universal health care at the Capitol

Since I was first elected to the legislature, making sure that everyone get affordable and quality health care coverage has been one of my highest priorities. You can see my web pages on this on my personal website and on my state website.

This has been the most exciting year, I believe, in the history of the state on this issue, with sweeping health care reform legislation being seriously considered and legislators more interested that ever to approve a plan to ensure quality health care for everyone.

Today, more than 5,000 people gathered in Bushnell Park, outside the State Capitol in Hartford, to encourage legislators to approve universal health care. I was there, and it was an electrifying event.

CT News Junkie did a story on the rally.

New Britain, I believe had more elected officials present at the rally that any other city or town. In the photo on CT News Junkie, you can see Rep. John Geragosian, soon-to-be Board of Education member Brian Riley and me when we were up on the stage. Rep. Peter Tercyak was up there, too, though he is not in this photo. And New Britain Board of Education President Peter Kochol and Board of Assessment Appeals Chair Robert Wysocki were there, as well as New Britain Democratic Town Committee Chair John McNamara and Town Committee member Phil Sherwood.

You can read more about this issue at www.healthcare4every1.com.

Update, May 6:
Thanks to Spazeboy for his kind words, and for his report on the rally.

Also, Undercurrents, the Hartford Independent Media Center publication, did a story on the rally, as well.

Update, May 7:
Ctblogger has a very good summary of news about the rally on My Left Nutmeg, including this YouTube video, posted by tparty:

Health Care forum at CCSU tomorrow.

The Connecticut chapter of the National Association of Social Workers will be hosting a forum on universal health care tomorrow at CCSU. Here is the press advisory from Sen. DeFronzo's office on this event.

NEW BRITAIN DELEGATION TO PARTICIPATE IN UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE FORUM

Who: National Association of Social Workers - Connecticut
Senator Donald J. DeFronzo (D-New Britain)
Representative John Geragosian (D-New Britain)
Representative Tim O’Brien (D-New Britain)
Representative Peter Tercyak (D-New Britain)
Representative Betty Boukus (D-New Britain)

What: Will participate in a forum on universal health care

Where: Central Connecticut State University
Alumni Hall, 1615 Stanley Street, New Britain

When: TOMORROW, April 5, 2007, beginning at 4:00 p.m.

All members of the media and the public are invited to attend.

There are some great opportunities this year to win legislation to ensure that everyone is able to have affordable health care coverage. Good universal health legislation would lower health insurance costs for most people and businesses and extend good health care coverage to the 400,000 people in Connecticut who lack health care coverage and the thousands more who have costly and inadequate coverage.

I want to be there and hope that I am. If might not be in attendance, though, because of the hearing on the Judiciary Committee on the nomination of Chase Rogers to be the Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court. This is a very important hearing, especially given the problem exposed regarding the nomination of Peter Zarella as Chief Justice and the apparent effort to rush his nomination through the legislature without proper scrutiny by the public and the legislature.

But I encourage everyone to attend the forum at CCSU tomorrow.

New Britain General Hospital bonding proposal moves to Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee

The legislature's public health committee voted today to move Senate Bill 79, which was introduced by Sen. DeFronzo, to the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee. The legislation would provide $1,500,000 in bond funding "for the purpose of expanding and enhancing emergency room facilities at the Hospital of Central Connecticut, " which is what New Britain General Hospital was re-named when it merged with another hospital.

Here is a link to the text of the bill, as it stands now.

This legislation had a hearing in the Public Health Committee on February 21st. As reported by Scott Whipple in The Herald, Larry Tanner, president of the Hospital, pointed out that "Patient care is being affected by the unavailability of treatment rooms, current floor plans not designed for today's high volume, lack of privacy and security for those who need it."

The Public Health Committee is the committee responsible for the health care systems in our state, but it is really the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee that makes decisions about what is included in the bond act part of the state budget. So the Finance Committee is really the right place for this bill to be.

It is especially the right place, because Sen. DeFronzo is the State chair of the Bonding Subcommitee of the Finance Committee. In addition to being a member of the Public Health Committee, I am also on the Finance Committee. So I will also be working to get this plan approved as part of the state bond act.

It goes without saying how important it is for the people of our whole area that the ER in New Britain General Hospital is for our whole region. It is important that the state can make sure that the hospital can meet these needs.

At the Capitol today: doctors and insurance companies, Supreme Court and higher education.

Like most days this time of year, it was a busy day at the Capitol. I decided to take a few moments after getting home and eating dinner to write a few words about the events today at the Capitol. I cannot say that I will have the time to write a daily report every day, but I will try to as much as possible.

I am a member of both the Public Health Committee and the Judiciary Committee. Both had public hearings at the same time. Since I have not perfected the art of being in two places at once, I had to alternate between the two.

The Public Health Committee hearing was on a long list of bills. One of them was a bill HB5308 to address a problem many health professionals (doctors, dentists, etc.) have said that are having with insurance companies having arbitrary policies on payments. Here is what HB5308 says:

That chapter 700c of the general statutes be amended to (1) require that contracts between managed care organizations or preferred provider networks and physicians include provisions that: (A) Provide an explanation of the physician payment methodology, the time periods for physician payments, the information to be relied on to calculate payments and adjustments and the process to be relied on to resolve disputes concerning physician payments; and (B) require that managed care organizations or preferred provider networks provide to each participating physician a complete copy of all current procedural terminology codes and all current reimbursements for such codes that determine the physician's reimbursement for the entire contract period; and (2) prohibit provisions in such contracts that allow managed care organizations or preferred provider networks to unilaterally change any term or provision of the agreed-upon contract.

We heard from both health professionals, who support the bill, and at least one insurance company - Anthem - testified against the bill. Anther bill, HB6841, is similar to HB5308, except that it creates a task force to study doing what HB5308 would do. Because the co-chairs (the House chair and the Senate chair) of the Public Health Committee decided to draft HB6841 in official legal form, it looks more likely that the committee will vote on that bill.

The Judiciary Committee held a hearing on very significant issue. At issue was the incident last year when William Sullivan, former Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court, prevented a court decision from being released because he thought it might be embarrassing to another member of the Supreme Court, Peter Zarella, who Justice Sullivan knew Gov. Rell was about to name as his successor.

The fact that Sullivan resigned suddenly from office at the end the last year's legislative session, combined with the "hold" placed on this particular decision of the court, made the co-chairs of the Judiciary Committee suspicious that Sullivan and perhaps others wanted to ram the Zarella nomination through a legislative confirmation vote before legislators had time to find out whether they thought he would be a good choice. In other words, did the Chief Justice try to prevent the legislature from exercising its responsibility to oversee the choices of who gets on the Supreme Court?

Ironically, the court decision that was held out of the public eye was a decision about whether certain administrative functions of the Court system should be exempt from public disclosure under the state's Freedom of Information Act.

Sullivan appeared apologetic for what he had done, and denied that he did it to help Zarella win the vote for Chief Justice in the legislature. But he also said that he kept the public from seeing the Court's decision in order to keep Zarella from being embarrassed during the time that Zarella was being considered for Chief Justice by the legislature.

Whatever happened, Zarella was forced withdraw his nomination and Gov. Rell has since named a different person - Chase Rogers - to be her new choice for Chief Justice.

Finally, the Appropriations Committee, which I am not a member of, has been holding hearings on Gov. Rell's proposed budget. The public portions of the hearings are held in the evenings, and today's hearing included funding for the state's public colleges and universities. I mention this because a New Britain resident, known for his blog "spazeboy", testified in support of funding for community colleges. He is a student at Tunxis Community College. He was very articulate and raised good points.