Senator Kelly Statement on ACCESS HEALTH CT Announcement
February 10, 2014Hartford – In response to Governor Malloy’s announcement that Access Health CT surpassed the goal of 100,000 enrollees, Senator Kevin Kelly (R-21), Ranking Member of the Connecticut General Assembly’s Insurance Committee, released the following statement:
“We all want to reduce the number of people without health insurance and provide affordable healthcare to everyone in the state. The exchange is working towards these objectives, but it is not yet time for celebration.
“The governor’s announcement today touts an arbitrary goal. The number of total enrollees does not indicate what the exchange needs to reach self-sufficiency and we are still missing key pieces of data to properly assess the success of Access Health CT. Right now, we cannot tell if we are on track or in trouble.
“We do not know how many enrollees did not have insurance previously, so it is impossible to determine how Access Health CT impacted the state’s uninsured population. The governor predicts that we will reduce our uninsured population by .8 percent by March, but this is an unverified prediction, and a .8 percent reduction is merely the beginning of a long road to insuring every person in Connecticut.
“We also cannot forget that the Affordable Care Act discontinued health coverage for 63,698 people; therefore, increasing the population of uninsured residents and making the challenge of reducing the uninsured population that much more difficult.
“Additionally, I am concerned that only 50,665 people signed up for private insurance while 71,318 people signed up for Medicaid. It will be difficult, if not impossible, for the exchange to be profitable and survive if the majority of enrollees continue to register for Medicaid.”
“The truth is we do not know if the Affordable Care Act is helping Connecticut’s uninsured, and the current percentage of private insurance enrollees does not show a clear path to profitability. Celebrating today is premature and irresponsible when there are still so many uncertainties.”
