Senator Miner Votes in Support of Settlement to End Gov. Malloy’s Abuse of CT Hospitals

Senator Craig Miner (R-Litchfield) today voted in support of a settlement between the state of Connecticut and the state’s hospitals that will result in the withdrawal of a lawsuit against the state challenging Governor Dannel P. Malloy’s abuse of the hospital tax system.

“This settlement will benefit taxpayers, hospitals and health care across our state,” said Sen. Miner. “It ends expensive litigation that resulted from Gov. Malloy and Democrat lawmakers’ abuse of the hospital tax system. Promises were broken and hospitals were taken advantage of to balance past budgets, ultimately hurting patients and employees. This settlement addresses the misdeeds of the Malloy administration, protects taxpayers from even more expensive liability, and gives hospitals and their employees the tools they need to improve health care quality and access.”

The hospital tax was initially designed to be a net gain for hospitals. Hospitals would pay a tax to the state, and the state was supposed to leverage those dollars to attain more federal funding for CT’s hospitals. However, over the years Gov. Malloy and Democrat lawmakers returned less and less of the money promised to hospitals. The hospital tax became a financial burden that took funds away from hospitals and put more strain on health care access and affordability.

“I hope legislators and state leaders will learn from this situation and stop passing policies that leave our state vulnerable to more lawsuits, like truck-only tolls. Connecticut taxpayers are the ones who ultimately pay,” said Sen. Miner.

The agreement also helps hospitals and patients by increasing Medicaid hospital reimbursement rates by about two percent per year after years of little movement. This will reduce the shortfall that results from Medicare and Medicaid paying hospitals less than the cost of care for beneficiaries of public programs. This will enable hospitals to do more to improve the patient experience and improve quality and access.

The seven-year agreement will give Connecticut hospitals and their employees the stability they need to continue providing care and services to people across our state. It will also protect taxpayers from the financial risk, uncertainty and expense of ongoing litigation that resulted from Gov. Malloy’s abuse of the hospital tax system.