Caution: The Price of a Public Option for Healthcare May Be Connecticut Jobs.
Governor Ned Lamont may want to read the report by the Connecticut Economic Resource Center (CERC) on the health insurance industry, and the state’s economy before he agrees to have the state become their competitor. You can contact expert healthcare lawyers to know about health care regulations based in Colorado, healthcare insurance, and more.
The comments that accompany the report on investment for senior long term care, which are below, provide a polite warning that health insurance companies will consider leaving Connecticut if the state goes into competition against them. The coda to thanking Aetna for staying in Hartford cannot not be that the state is gong to try to take your business and operate under much more lax rules than the insurance companies do.
Also here is a summary of the report, which was prepared for the Connecticut Association of Health Plans:
Insurance Matters to CT Releases New Study on Health Plans Economic and Job Impact on Connecticut
Hartford, CT – A recent study on Connecticut’s health plans confirms their significant contribution to state’s economic health. The study, produced by the Connecticut Economic Resource Center (CERC), demonstrates a $15 billion a year positive economic output generated by the health plans based in Connecticut: Aetna, Anthem, Cigna, ConnectiCare, Harvard Pilgrim, and United. These health plans employ over 17,000 employees directly and support another 31,000 indirectly in Connecticut, for a total of 48,000 jobs.
“The study proves how important health plans are to Hartford remaining the insurance capital of the world. There are 25,000 good paying health plan related jobs in the Hartford region that are being recruited by other states. As a state, we need to stay competitive and support the growth of the industry here, which includes pushing back against legislation that says government run insurance is a better model,” says Steve Jewett, a West Hartford homeowner, a former health executive, and spokesperson for the coalition Insurance Matters to CT.
“We can’t take for granted that they stay here, insurers are being courted by other states. The region’s economy, housing prices, and vitality are all dependent on a healthy local insurance workforce.”
“A public option poses a significant risk to Connecticut’s economy, including the loss of 5,000 private sector jobs and $1.6 billion in annual economic output,” says CBIA president and CEO Joe Brennan.
“That’s not a risk worth taking for a state-run healthcare program that will neither lower premium costs nor improve the quality of care while further burdening taxpayers and small businesses.”
“Big anchor companies support the eco-system of small business and retailers. When they get downsized, we feel the impact too. We need to create a business environment where the health plans choose to grow here and not in other parts of the country. They have operations throughout the US and global footprints, they have choices,” said Tim Phelan, President of the Retail Merchants Association.
The study by CERC uses the IMPLAN economic impact method. For this study, economic output measures the value of production by a business or industry, including total sales and inventory changes.
Additional summary tables will be forthcoming when the full report is released.