Partnership Statement On Proposed New State Government-Controlled Health Insurance System

HARTFORD, Conn. – Connecticut’s Health Care Future issued the following statement regarding the introduction of legislation to form a new state government-controlled health insurance system, known as the “state government option” or “public option,” which would put politicians in control of families’ health care, and which could also increase costs and harm the state’s economy:

“Every patient deserves access to affordable, high-quality health care, but the state government option is an unaffordable one-size-fits-all system that would put politicians in control of families’ care, destabilize the private insurance market and put thousands of Connecticut jobs at risk.  Its costs could be passed on to middle class Connecticut families through higher taxes and increased premiums for those with private coverage, forcing patients to pay more to wait longer for worse care.  Let’s build on what is working in health care and fix what is broken – not force Connecticut families into a new government-controlled health insurance system.”

• The state government option would destabilize the private health coverage Connecticut families rely on.
    
• Connecticut’s Partnership Plan 2.0 lost over $10 million in 2018. Hardworking taxpayers can’t afford another unaffordable new government insurance system.
    
• The state government option would put the jobs of thousands of Connecticut workers at risk, in exchange for a system that would force patients to pay more to wait longer for worse care.
  

Connecticut’s Health Care Future believes every patient deserves access to affordable, high-quality health care, but an unproven one-size-fits-all system controlled by politicians would threaten consumers’ choice of coverage and care.  The unaffordable costs and negative consequences consumers and patients could experience under a new government-controlled system help explain why there is no successful state government option anywhere in America.

Connecticut’s Health Care Future is a project of the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future Action.