SustiNet and the Healthcare Partnership bill recently passed the state House and Senate by wide margins, and received a fair amount of local media coverage.
Christine Stuart at CT News Junkie reports on Saturday's passage of both bills in the state Senate -- SustiNet by a vote of 23-12 and the Healthcare Partnership bill by a vote of 21-12:
Health care advocates will turn their lobbying efforts toward Rell in the next few weeks as the bill makes its way to her desk.
“Few elected leaders ever get such a perfect opportunity to enact major reform,” Juan A. Figueroa, president of Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, said Saturday in a press release. “The House, the Senate, and the people of Connecticut have delivered one such defining moment to Governor Rell.”
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Over at the Capitol Watch blog, Christopher Keating reports on the state Senate's passage of the two "controversial" bills--though with such wide margins of support in both chambers of the General Assembly, it might be more appropriate to characterize the bills as popular:
Longtime healthcare advocate Tom Swan said, "People nationally understand that this is a very big deal in the national debate."
Universal Health Care Foundation president Juan Figueroa, a former legislator from Hartford, hailed the passage of both SustiNet and the pooling bill.
"Together, these two reform bills set the state on a path of health care and economic recovery," Figureroa said. Business, labor, clergy and health providers are all on board. Now, we need the governor to lead our state through its health care crisis."
Amanda Falcone at the Meriden Record-Journal reports on how these bills complement national efforts at health care reform:
Together, advocates say, both bills help Connecticut prepare for the future - a future that U.S. Rep. Christopher S. Murphy, D-5th District, will have a hand in deciding.
[...]
With President Barack Obama on board, Murphy said he hopes to see the U.S. House pass a universal health-care bill by the end of the summer.
Now, more than ever, it is important for the state and federal governments to work together with the help of organizations like the Universal Health Care Foundation, Murphy said. Though the specifics still need to be worked out, the nation is heading toward some form of universal health-care system, he said, and a public-private partnership will be needed.
The Secretary of State released a statement urging Governor Rell to sign both bills in order to bolster the economy:
“My office is recording record-breaking numbers of businesses shutting down in Connecticut, and health care is one of the highest costs facing entrepreneurs. So it is obvious that the small businesses who are the backbone of our economy and have created more than 90% of all new jobs in Connecticut in the last decade now need our help to continue to prosper. Both the SustiNet plan and the CT Healthcare Partnership will save taxpayers and businesses millions while providing a strong network of affordable, quality coverage for hundreds of thousands of Connecticut residents who are currently uninsured. I urge Governor Rell to sign these bills into law and make Connecticut a leader in healthcare reform.”
As the state’s chief business registrar, Secretary of the State Bysiewicz joined lawmakers in leading a series of roundtable discussions with entrepreneurs throughout Connecticut to discuss the bills and their potential impact on the economy and individual businesses.
State Senator Jonathan Harris also released a statement following the passage of both bills:
“We have people from all across Connecticut who have a stake in the success of this plan - patients, doctors, hospitals, insurance companies and businesses,” Sen. Harris said. “Sustinet picks a path, links us with federal reforms and federal dollars, and leaves it to future legislators to implement the specifics of a delivery system.
“We already have universal health care in Connecticut, but it’s not working. It’s sick care. It’s the ER,” he continued. “People who can’t afford or don’t have health insurance don’t take care of themselves, and when they get sick they end up in the hospital emergency room with their bills paid for by the taxpayers of Connecticut. This Sustinet plan addresses cost, quality, access and coverage, and it does so in a more humane, more efficient, and more cost-effective manner than any other proposal to date.”
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