Terry Gerratana

Gerratana Welcomes Affordable Care Act Decision for Connecticut

State Senator Terry Gerratana (D-New Britain), the Senate Chairman of the Public Health Committee, was joined today by other health care advocates to highlight the benefits to Connecticut residents of the federal Affordable Care Act, which was recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Advocates agree that the Court’s decision has brought hope to hundreds of thousands of families in Connecticut who stand to benefit when the health reform law is fully implemented.

“Along with public education and retirement security, I think universal health care is going to prove to be one of the most positive and far-reaching policy decisions the United States has ever enacted. It is literally a life-changing event,” Sen. Gerratana said. “Our neighbors in Massachusetts have had great success with their universal health care program; more than 98 percent of all Bay State residents are now covered, including nearly 100 percent of children. I think Connecticut has been planning for similar success for several years and I expect we’ll see the same results.”

It is estimated that, in Connecticut at least 70,000 low income individuals—people making under $15,000 a year—will be able to get health insurance through Medicaid, and more than 240,000 state residents—including 40,000 small business employees—will participate in Connecticut’s ‘health insurance exchange,’ which is a new network of health insurance providers.

Some of the ACA’s highlights that Connecticut residents are already enjoying include:

• 42,224 state residents received a $250 rebate to help cover the cost of their prescription drugs; since 2010, Connecticut residents with Medicare have saved $44.7 million on prescription drugs
• Last year, 422,154 state residents received free preventive services—such as mammograms and colonoscopies—or a free annual wellness visit.
• 137,452 state residents with private insurance will receive $13 million in rebates from insurance companies this summer.
• 1,386,000 state residents (including 525,000 women and 367,000 children) no longer have to worry about lifetime limits on health insurance coverage (this is especially important for cancer patients and those with chronic diseases.)
• “Some of the most frustrating calls I get at my office are from consumers who are refused insurance policies because of injuries they had in high school or ailments such as hypothyroidism that are not in their control—so called pre-existing conditions,” said Victoria Veltri, the State Healthcare Advocate. “These refusals to offer coverage are on par with the outlawed practices of carriers of improperly rescinding insurance policies. The ACA takes these harsh and unfair tactics away from insurers, finally allowing consumers to obtain healthcare coverage instead of going without healthcare or obtaining healthcare only after draining their resources.”

“With the Supreme Court decision now clear, our state government can move full steam ahead to ensure that Connecticut residents and small businesses have full access to affordable and quality care,” said Frances Padilla, Executive Vice President, Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut. “When it opens for business in 2014, the health insurance exchange should provide consumers as much choice as possible between for-profit, nonprofit and public plans offering affordable and quality health plans.”