High Cost Of Healthcare Leading To 'Impossible Choices' | CT News Junkie (2024)

HARTFORD, CT – The cost of healthcare in Connecticut is too high, and getting higher, but officials from the Office of Health Strategy said Tuesday that the state’s benchmarking program is helping to manage that.

Officials, advocates, and healthcare providers gathered for an informational hearing in Hartford on OHS’ Cost Growth Benchmark initiative, and how the numbers from this year have shaken out.

An analysis of the cost of healthcare in Connecticut – in different areas and with different family situations – was done by the Center for Women’s Welfare at the University of Washington on data gathered from 2019 through 2022.

Lisa Manzer, director of the center, presented the results of the analysis conducted by the organization on the state of healthcare affordability in Connecticut.

The study resulted in what Manzer called the Connecticut Healthcare Affordability Index, which indicates that about 650,000 state residents have to regularly choose between paying for healthcare or paying other necessary bills such as rent or utilities.

Manzer said that the index’s data also means that 260,000 childrens’ needs cannot fully be met.

“These are impossible choices that no one should have to make,” Manzer said.

According to the study, in 2022 28% of households that used the open market to shop for health insurance and 14% who received employer-sponsored healthcare plans could not afford healthcare.

The study found that, on average, healthcare is not affordable for a household of four unless they were earning the state’s median income – which in 2022 was $88,429 according to the US Census Bureau.

OHS’ benchmark for cost growth for 2021-22 – the most recent data – was 3.2%. Actual cost growth for that time period was 3.4%, exceeding the benchmark.

The Connecticut Hospital Association said in a statement that while the overall total medical expenditures outlined by OHS exceeded the benchmark of 3.2%, the medical expense costs of Connecticut healthcare providers only increased by 2.6%, with the additional increase representing an increase in health insurance costs.

“Connecticut’s hospitals and health systems will remain active in the state’s benchmarking process and continue to push for a transparent and validated data process so we can assess opportunities for improvement in care delivery, focus on the impact that Medicaid underpayment is having on commercial healthcare spending, and understand the drivers of increased cost, like historic inflation,” CHA said.

Paul Kidwell, senior vice president of policy for CHA, said in a phone interview that while the number is an increase, it’s still well below what the rate of inflation was in 2022.

“That’s part of the cost of delivering healthcare,” he said.

Lynelle, a single mother who is dealing with the issues presented in the study, said during the hearing that she is faced with having to decide between moving to a cheaper area with lower-performing schools, or finding a way to pay for adding her daughter to her already-expensive insurance plan.

Lynelle said she receives her healthcare plan through her employer – a nonprofit organization in Norwich – and said that her perennially high deductible will now be even higher when she adds her daughter.

She said that even if she were to be diagnosed with a disease, her deductible is so high that she would not be able to afford treatment. She said that she has to pay out of pocket for any kind of medicine.

“It’s not wellness stuff, it’s med checks,” she said.

Lynelle said she makes slightly too much income to qualify for Husky A healthcare, but that the rising deductible will take even more away from her take-home pay.

One of the main factors that is driving up the cost of healthcare is the growing expense of pharmaceutical drugs, some officials present said.

OHS Executive Director Diedre Gifford said that the three main pharmaceutical manufacturers in the state – AbbVie, Amgen, and Vertex – were summoned by OHS to appear at Tuesday’s hearing, but they declined.

By law, organizations that are asked by OHS to appear at hearings like Tuesday’s are required to do so, Gifford said.

Michael Bailit, president of Bailit Health, said in a presentation that each of those companies manufactures drugs that have contributed to the growth of healthcare costs.

He also said that they significantly raised the prices on those drugs from 2021 to 2022.

Bailit said that the spending on two kinds of drugs – immunosuppressants and antineoplastic agents – has driven up costs across the board for healthcare.

Sen. Saud Anwar, a Democrat from South Windsor who is also a medical doctor, said that another issue in healthcare in Connecticut is low Medicaid reimbursem*nt rates for healthcare workers, which he says is making it harder and harder for the state to find enough nurses and other healthcare staff to fill open jobs.