Achieving Universal Health Care in Connecticut: Understanding Todays Landscape

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Achieving Universal Health Care in Connecticut
Understanding Todays Landscape

• Key Findings
• Commissioned by
• Universal Health Care Foundation
• of Connecticut
• Jack Meyer, PhD
• Economic and Social Research Institute
• February 28, 2006

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Why health insurance is disappearing from
low-wage jobs
In 2010, premiums will exceed 50 of
total compensation
Sources Kaiser Family Foundation, Sept. 2005
BLS Employment Cost Index, 10/05. Calculations by
ESRI, 10/05.
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Study Methodology

• Stakeholder interviews
• Review of articles, reports, data
• National scan of reforms in other states
• Developing policy options
• Input from Foundation and stakeholders
• Modeling policy options
• Estimating economic impact

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Key Research Findings

• Health spending in CT nearly 15 billion
• CT spends gt any other state on elderly
• Spending on kids adults is very low
• CT fails to use millions of Fed health money
• Hispanics, blacks more likely to be uninsured
• CT state govt. under-spends all states but one
  re of state GDP allocated to health
• Covering all uninsured would cost less than
  direct indirect cost of uninsured

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Health costs CT vs. other states

• CT premiums for ESI rank 2nd to 12th highest in
  US
• Avg. hospital costs per day - 6th highest
• Nursing home costs 14.5 of total CT spending
  highest in U.S.
• Medicaid costs
• Elderly/disabled 1st 2nd in U.S.
• Children/parents 36th 46th in U.S.

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Uninsurance in CT lower than the U.S. average
but slightly more than any other New England state
Source U.S. Census Bureau, Aug. 2005
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Spending on CT uninsured Direct costs, 2005
(total572 million)
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Spending on Uninsured Indirect Costs in
Connecticut

• Indirect cost of CT uninsurance between 652
  million and 1.3 billion per year
• Unspent federal allotments CT has returned to the
  U.S. Treasury
• DSH 98.7 million for FFY 2005
• SCHIP 82.1 million for 2000-2004
• Other states have used such funds to cover the
  uninsured

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Covering all CTs uninsured would add 343
million in health costs (a 2.3 percent increase
in total health care spending)
2.3 increase
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Conclusions

• American families are being squeezed by health
  costs exceeding wage gains
• The uninsured, and the doctors and hospitals that
  serve them, are burdened
• The problems of the uninsured and under-insured
  are getting steadily worse
• Many workers are one pink slip away from losing
  coverage

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Conclusions (continued)

• CT is spending about 15 billion today
• Both the direct and indirect cost of the
  uninsured are very substantial
• We can cover the uninsured without hurting jobs
  or lowering current coverage
• The net cost of universal coverage is real but
  manageable

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Conclusions

• CT is leaving federal on the table
• CT is spending more than other states on elderly,
  much less on kids adults
• CT health premiums are high
• CT state government spends less on health than
  all but one state
• Hispanics, blacks more likely to be uninsured