The SustiNet boondoggle
Connecticut is business unfriendly. The headlines cry out daily; Connecticut is now ranked dubiously as the number one state for having the highest amount of debt per capita and today we learned that we rank first as the state with the lowest job growth in the nation since 1990—ZERO – while CT government spending increased by 250%! To add insult to injury the Connecticut Legislature is now looking affront taxpayers and businesses further asking them to finance a huge expansion of public health financing and entitlements through an initiative called SustiNet which promises to create a gigantic new bureaucracy costing millions of dollars.
Democratic leaders passed an enabling law for SustiNet in 2009 which was designed to set up a universal healthcare plan. Governor Rell immediately vetoed the law fearing its cost and scope, but the law was over-ridden by the Democratic majority. SustiNet has since functioned as merely a study group for the last year but now its board has recommended full adoption and full funding from the Legislature.
SustiNet, under their plan, is designed to greatly expand government financed health coverage in CT using Federal dollars. The ranks of Medicaid eligible beneficiaries have been exponentially expanded under the edicts of Obamacare and SustiNet is positioning itself to distribute Federal money to CT beneficiaries while becoming a publicly financed insurance company that will compete against the private market. The grand plan is to start with “state sponsored” groups via the infrastructure of the bloated state employees health plan….and then to expand the offerings to state retirees, Medicaid beneficiaries, Husky beneficiaries and then to municipalities and private employers.
Remember that the intended vehicle for this labyrinthine new public option is the state employee’s health plan which is much richer and has a cost basis nearly double that of the average private sector employer in CT. This same plan has a projected unfunded healthcare retiree liability which some estimate at $30 billion.
In contrast to CT, Massachusetts passed healthcare reform similar to what SustiNet promises us nearly 6 years ago. Today, MA has healthcare costs nearly 30% higher than the rest of the country and a severe shortage of physicians resulting from a lack of sufficient provider infrastructure resulting from universal utilization demand. In turn, the state has had to recently secure nearly ½ billion dollars in Federal Medicaid bailouts to stay afloat short term and the private healthcare market has been decimated.
In closing, SustiNet is a boondoggle being actively considered by our imprudent Legislature now. It poses yet another huge threat to the economic health and well being of CT. I appeal to you to find out more about SustiNet and to reach out to your elected officials.
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