The following unsigned editorial was published in The Day shortly after Governor Rell vetoed the SustiNet and Healthcare Partnership bills on July 8, 2009:
Override Rell health care vetoes
Given the chance to begin health care reform, Gov. M. Jodi Rell opted for inaction by vetoing two reform bills Wednesday and appointing yet another advisory board.
No more blue-ribbon panels are necessary to sort out the myriad problems with the health care system in the state. A group of experts did that and the results were the bills the governor rejected. Forming a study panel is an obvious attempt to deflect political criticism of the veto, not find a solution.
Gov. Rell is right when she says Connecticut is strapped for cash and unable to fund new initiatives right now. But the so-called “pooling” and Sustinet bills she vetoed would have created the framework to build an improved health care system over time.
The Sustinet plan would not have begun enrollment until 2012 and stretched implementation over five years. Combined, the two bills would establish universal health care and allow nonprofit organizations, small businesses and municipalities to join the state's insurance pool. The bills, if enacted, would establish the conceptual structure to provide decent, affordable health care to everyone in the state, including the approximately 325,000 uninsured residents.
Forming a 15-member Connecticut Health Care Reform Advisory Board - and charging it with developing health care policies to mesh with whatever reforms the Congress approves - is straight from the Rell administration playbook. When unwilling to act, form a study panel.
In creating this particular advisory board, Gov. Rell dismisses the good work of the Universal Health Care Foundation, the independent, nonprofit grant-making organization that grew out of a 1997 lawsuit after the merger of the for-profit Anthem Insurance with Blue Cross & Blue Shield. The foundation has studied the issue for years with the goal of achieving a quality health care system that is affordable and available for everyone in Connecticut. It is the architect of Sustinet.
Showing insensitivity to those who need relief now, Gov. Rell gave her panel until Jan. 1, 2011 to make its recommendations. The governor points to “daily developments in Washington that have the potential to make extraordinary and fundamental changes in the way health care coverage is provided in our nation.”
In other words, the Republican governor puts faith in the Democratic-controlled Congress, but is unwilling to enact solutions produced by the state's Democratic-controlled legislature.
If Congress helps solve the problem, great, but why wait? A proactive approach will better serve the state. The General Assembly should override the vetoes.
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