Governor: HUSKY Contracts Terminated After FOI Dispute

HARTFORD — Weighing in on the fight to maintain Freedom of Information transparency involving state health care providers, state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said this week he supports a move to distance the state from insurance providers that refuse to reveal certain reimbursement rates.

Governor R. Jodi Rell said November 19 that she is terminating most of the responsibilities of four health care companies that receive state Medicaid funds to provide managed health care to poor children.

The companies include Anthem Health Plans, Health Net, WellCare Health Plans, and Community Health Network of Connecticut.

Mr Blumenthal called the step “well merited and profoundly positive — reflecting my office’s continued battle in the courts and elsewhere to compel greater accountability and necessary disclosure by these organizations.”

The AG said the failures to comply with moral and legal obligations, which he sought to enforce in court, is a sound reason for terminating their contracts.

“I am hopeful that this step will lead to more effective and transparent health care coverage for citizens who depend on it,” Mr Blumenthal said.

Gov Rell said the insurers will no longer make decisions about authorizing coverage or payment levels to medical providers under the HUSKY program. Instead, those decisions will be made by the state Department of Social Services.

The insurers, she said, will only handle claims and processing.

The decision comes after more than a year of wrangling because the HMOs have refused to reveal rates paid to doctors for services, saying the information is proprietary. State legislators have complained that the insurance companies also refuse to reveal how often they deny payments for prescription drugs and which drugs are rejected.

Mr Blumenthal has repeatedly stated to the governor that the state cannot be held hostage by these organizations when they threaten to walk away from contracts because they must assist in an orderly transition to other providers.

“I renew my pledge to take any legal action necessary to force these companies to honor all their commitments and duties under their contracts,” Mr Blumenthal said. “The obligation to comply with the Freedom of Information Act will extend equally to any contractor under the Charter Oak program.”

The governor said in a Hartford Courant report last Monday the insurers may have been willing to walk away, but she is not.

“We spend over $700 million a year in taxpayer money to provide these services under the HUSKY program to children and parents in Connecticut’s working families,” Gov Rell said. “It is only right to fully disclose how this money is spent.”

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)