Veto Override Brings State Universal Health Care Closer

HARTFORD – The Democratic-controlled General Assembly in Connecticut has overridden seven of Republican Governor M. Jodi Rell’s 20 vetoes, including one that lays groundwork for a universal health care system in the state.

 There would have been eight overrides Monday, but the Senate fell short by one vote to trump Ms Rell’s veto of a bill that would have opened the state’s health insurance plan to small businesses, nonprofits and municipalities. Senator Joan Hartley, D-Waterbury, was considered the swing vote, but she left before the tally was taken.

Meanwhile, health care advocates, many wearing red and yellow T-shirts that read “health care 4every1,” appeared to be more concerned that another health care bill known as SustiNet was overridden. It creates a new public authority to help develop a self-insured health care plan by 2012 to cover the state’s uninsured.

Cheers erupted in the House and Senate galleries when the bill was overturned.

“It really puts forward a framework for a solution,” said Juan A. Figueroa, president of the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut. The independent nonprofit, which promotes universal access to health care, estimates that 356,000 of the state’s 3.5 million residents do not have health insurance.

“To do so by way of a veto override of a governor in the insurance capital of the country, it seems to me that it sends a huge message about people not wanting to wait any longer and wanting some real solutions to health care,” he said.

Ms Rell has maintained that the SustiNet bill will ultimately cost the state at least $1 billion and does not provide a way to pay for it. “The simple fact is that the families and employers of Connecticut cannot afford the new taxes that will be required by this new program,” she said.

 Historic Action

Before Monday’s vote, lawmakers had only overridden three Ms Rell vetoes since she became governor on July 1, 2004.

“We’re a co-equal branch of government and I think it’s time that the governor understands that this is a partnership,” House Majority Leader Denise Merrill, D-Mansfield. “I think that people felt pretty strongly about some of these bills.”

Ms Rell and her fellow Republicans downplayed the significance of the override bonanza, which tied for the state’s second-highest on record. The largest number of overrides — nine — occurred in 1974 when Republican John Meskill was governor.

“I think there were a lot fewer overrides than originally planned. I think there was some talk early on that there might be as many as 13 or 14 of the governor’s vetoes overridden,” Senate Minority John McKinney, R-Fairfield, who represents Newtown.

Ms Rell had vetoed 19 bills from the regular legislative session and one Democratic budget bill passed in special session. Repeal of the death penalty and requiring chain restaurant menus to include calorie counts were among the bills Democrats did not try to override.

Monday’s veto session comes amid continuing closed-door budget negotiations. The state, without a budget since the new fiscal year began on July 1, has been operating under an executive order issued by Ms Rell.

Other overridden bills include legislation that allows a private janitorial company that maintains state buildings to charge the state more in order to provide 600 workers and their families health care benefits.

Anthem Rate Increase

In other healthcare related news, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Connecticut, which covers nearly one in three state residents, on July 20, proposed raising some health insurance policy rates by as much as 32 percent.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and a legal representative of the state’s Heathcare Advocate office both argued against the proposal during a daylong hearing before the state Department of Insurance.

Mr Blumenthal called Anthem’s request “a rate increase that will be catastrophic, not only for our consumers but for our economy.”

Anthem asked the Insurance Department for permission to raise rates by 20 to 32 percent — averaging 23.4 percent — beginning October 1.

“A timely rate increase reflecting emerging claim experiences should help to mitigate a higher rate increase in the future,” said George Siriotis, regional vice president of individual sales.

Anthem representatives argued that the company needs more money to cover rising claim costs triggered by longer hospital stays, new and expensive prescription drugs, advanced technologies and an aging population. The company said wasteful health care spending, defensive medicine, unnecessary hospital admissions and medical errors are also driving up costs.

Anthem representatives said the “volatility” of claim costs made it impossible to determine how much the company would make in profits with the proposed rate increases. Representatives also said they did not have estimates on how many current insurance clients might forgo health insurance altogether if the company’s rates increase.

Seven members of the public spoke, all against the price increases. Two witnesses brought by Mr Blumenthal and Vicki Veltri, the state’s Heathcare Advocate general counsel, both said they could not afford insurance if the price went up.

The Insurance Department plans to issue a decision within 30 days, according to spokeswoman Dawn McDaniel. If the request is approved, members will be notified by mail 30 to 45 days before the rate increases, Anthem representatives said.