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…..   

 

 

 

Healthcare options for State employees and more….. http://www.osc.state.ct.us/empret/indxhlth.htm

 

 

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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

 

 

 

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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.   

 

 

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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

 

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National Healthcare Bill: H.R.3200

 

Click to Access:  HR3200: America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009

All Information (except text)	Text of Legislation	CRS Summary	Major Congressional Actions All Congressional Actions All Congressional Actions with Amendments With links to Congressional Record pages, votes,reports
Titles	Cosponsors (8)	Committees
Related Bills	Amendments	Related Committee Documents
CBO Cost Estimates	Subjects

 Research Other Congressional Issues….. http://thomas.loc.gov/

 

 

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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

 

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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

 

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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

 

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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

 

 

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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

 

 

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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

 

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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