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Governor Lamont: Hurting Hospitals Hurts Connecticut
Governor Lamont’s budget proposal contains policies that would jeopardize healthcare.
These proposals would add significant financial burdens on local hospitals at a time when they are already struggling. These policies would weaken healthcare in Connecticut and hurt patients and the healthcare workforce, making care more expensive and less accessible.
Join us in urging Governor Lamont to STOP these harmful proposals and work collaboratively with hospitals and healthcare providers.
Devastating to Local Hospitals
Governor Lamont’s proposed budget would drastically reduce hospital payments and increase the burden of the state’s hospital tax – the combined effect would devastate hospitals and jeopardize care. This comes at a time when Connecticut hospitals continue to face extraordinary financial pressures that exceed the nation and the region and our healthcare providers across the state work to recover from the lasting effects of the global pandemic and years of historic inflation.
Connecticut hospital expenses grew by $1 billion in one year, drug costs are up 10%, and government payer underpayment continues to strain hospitals and health systems with hospitals shouldering over $2.8 billion in Medicare and Medicaid losses annually.
Governor Lamont’s budget would squeeze hospitals further with the collective impact of policies including hospital tax rebasing which would increase the annual hospital tax, out-of-network price caps, and unequitable reference-based pricing – pushing more costs onto hospitals.
Governor Lamont’s Budget Lacks a Vision for Healthcare
❌ Does nothing to ensure the state Medicaid program is paying hospitals fairly
❌ Does nothing to address root cause drivers of poor health
❌ Does nothing to make healthcare more affordable, accessible, or equitable
❌ Does nothing to support the strained healthcare workforce
❌ Does nothing to improve public health and well-being as communities across the state are experiencing record levels of chronic disease and poor health outcomes
Harmful Policies in the Governor’s Proposed Budget
Rebasing the Hospital Tax
This would result in a significant tax increase on Connecticut hospitals.
Hospitals already pay more than $800 million in taxes to the state each year and are absorbing $1.4 billion in Medicaid losses, and $1.3 billion in Medicare losses.
The Governor’s proposals would add millions in additional taxes.
Capping Out-of-Network Rates for Inpatient and Outpatient Services
This will lead to hundreds of millions in reductions to hospitals, worsening hospitals’ negative operating margins.
It will reduce payments to hospitals by hundreds of millions of dollars, all while hospital operating expenses are increasing rapidly (a billion dollars in one year between 2022 and 2023).
Reference-Based Pricing
An unequitable approach that will likely worsen financial burdens on hospitals at a time when they are already struggling financially, making it more difficult for hospitals to meet their mission of caring for communities, improving quality, growing and supporting the healthcare workforce, and investing in innovation to advance care.
