CHA Op-Ed: Redesigning Medicaid Is Key to a Healthier CT

In an op-ed published in CT Post and CTNewsJunkie, Jennifer Jackson, CEO of the Connecticut Hospital Association (CHA), detailed how Connecticut can implement critical Medicaid reforms to bolster access to essential services, preserve the healthcare workforce, and improve health outcomes for all Connecticut residents. 

In the op-ed, Jackson stressed that Connecticut’s low Medicaid reimbursement rates inhibit access to care, drive up patient costs, and strain healthcare providers.  She described Connecticut hospitals’ Medicaid redesign framework as a better way to create a healthier future.

Hospitals are crucial pillars of Connecticut’s healthcare system, providing life-saving, around-the-clock care to anyone who walks through their doors, regardless of their ability to pay.  The Medicaid program is not sufficiently supporting hospitals, which in turn hurts patients and communities.  Jackson cited the massive Medicaid and Medicare shortfalls straining hospitals and health systems.

“No matter how you do the math, the reality is Connecticut hospitals absorb $1.4 billion in Medicaid losses and $1.3 billion in Medicare losses every year, and these losses keep growing,” Jackson wrote. Hospitals are also one of the largest taxpayers and collectively the largest employer in the state, yet the hospital tax program is not doing nearly enough to support hospital services for Medicaid beneficiaries.

“The hospital tax can be part of this solution, but not if it is used simply to bolster the state budget and add more strain to hospitals at a time when they are already struggling,” Jackson wrote.  “Connecticut hospitals are instead proposing to make adjustments to the hospital tax program to support substantial improvements in reimbursement and new investments in a broad range of community health initiatives.”

Jackson detailed Connecticut hospitals’ innovative, comprehensive solution that reimagines Medicaid to invest in initiatives that prevent chronic disease and improve community well-being by strengthening and expanding multi-sector health partnerships. 

“Addressing social, economic, and environmental drivers of health — like stable employment, housing security, environmental safety, and access to nutritious food — fosters healthier families for generations to come,” Jackson wrote.  “Uncertainty around Medicaid at the federal level makes it more critical than ever that here in Connecticut, we continue working together on solutions that support Connecticut patients and communities.”

Click here to learn more about CHA’s Medicaid redesign framework.

Click here to read the op-ed.