Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that establishes and outlines the procedures of the Connecticut Healthcare Partnership, effective July 1, 2011.

Highlights:

• Requires the comptroller to offer health coverage under the state partnership plan to the following employer groups that submit an application in accordance with the bill's provisions (Sec. 2):
• Nonstate public employers, beginning July 1, 2012;
• Municipal-related and nonprofit employers, beginning January 1, 2012; and
• Small employers, beginning July 1, 2012.

• Defines "partnership plan" as a health are benefit plan offered by a comptroller to non-state public employees or nonprofit employers (Sec. 1).

• Defines "nonstate public employer" as a municipality or other state political subdivision, including a board of education, quasi-public agency, or public library (Sec. 1).

• Defines "nonstate public employee" as an employee or elected officer of a nonstate public employer (Sec. 1).

• Defines "municipal-related employer" as a property management, food service, or school transportation business that contracts with a nonstate public employer (Sec. 1).

• Defines "small employer" as a person, firm, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, or association that is engaged in business or self-employed for at least three consecutive months that, during which time at least 50 percent of its working days during the preceding 12 months, employed 50 or fewer employees (Sec. 1).

• Specifies that the comptroller does not have to offer coverage from every plan offered under the partnership plan to every employer (Sec. 2).

• Prohibits an employee from enrolling in the partnership plan if he or she is covered through his or her employer under a health insurance plan or arrangement issued to, or in accordance with, a trust established through collective bargaining under the federal Labor Management Relations Act (Sec. 2).

• Authorizes eligible employer groups that cover employees under the state partnership plan to also seek coverage for their retirees (Sec. 4).

• Requires that the premiums an employer group pays to participate in the state partnership plan must be equal to the amount that the state pays, including any premiums state employees and retirees pay, with an exception for small employers (Sec. 5).

• Authorizes the comptroller to adjust the premiums charged to a small employer to reflect one or more group characteristics specified in state insurance law, including, but not limited to, the following (Sec. 5):
• Age;
• Gender;
• Geographic areas, not including areas that are smaller than a county;
• Type of industry;
• Group size;
• Administrative costs saved by participating in the state plan;
• Savings realized by not paying a profit margin to an insurance carrier by choosing to participate in the partnership plan; and
• Family composition, including:
• Employee plus family;
• Employee and spouse;
• Employee and child;
• Employee plus one dependent; and
• Employee plus two or more dependents.

• Establishes a 12-member Nonstate Public Health Care Advisory Committee, which must make recommendations to the Health Care Cost Containment Committee (HCCCC) regarding health care coverage for nonstate public employees (Sec. 6).

Full Bill Text

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that establishes and outlines the procedures of the Connecticut Healthcare Partnership, effective July 1, 2011.

Highlights:

• Requires the comptroller to offer health coverage under the state partnership plan to the following employer groups that submit an application in accordance with the bill's provisions (Sec. 2):
• Nonstate public employers, beginning July 1, 2012;
• Municipal-related and nonprofit employers, beginning January 1, 2012; and
• Small employers, beginning July 1, 2012.

• Defines "partnership plan" as a health are benefit plan offered by a comptroller to non-state public employees or nonprofit employers (Sec. 1).

• Defines "nonstate public employer" as a municipality or other state political subdivision, including a board of education, quasi-public agency, or public library (Sec. 1).

• Defines "nonstate public employee" as an employee or elected officer of a nonstate public employer (Sec. 1).

• Defines "municipal-related employer" as a property management, food service, or school transportation business that contracts with a nonstate public employer (Sec. 1).

• Defines "small employer" as a person, firm, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, or association that is engaged in business or self-employed for at least three consecutive months that, during which time at least 50 percent of its working days during the preceding 12 months, employed 50 or fewer employees (Sec. 1).

• Specifies that the comptroller does not have to offer coverage from every plan offered under the partnership plan to every employer (Sec. 2).

• Prohibits an employee from enrolling in the partnership plan if he or she is covered through his or her employer under a health insurance plan or arrangement issued to, or in accordance with, a trust established through collective bargaining under the federal Labor Management Relations Act (Sec. 2).

• Authorizes eligible employer groups that cover employees under the state partnership plan to also seek coverage for their retirees (Sec. 4).

• Requires that the premiums an employer group pays to participate in the state partnership plan must be equal to the amount that the state pays, including any premiums state employees and retirees pay, with an exception for small employers (Sec. 5).

• Authorizes the comptroller to adjust the premiums charged to a small employer to reflect one or more group characteristics specified in state insurance law, including, but not limited to, the following (Sec. 5):
• Age;
• Gender;
• Geographic areas, not including areas that are smaller than a county;
• Type of industry;
• Group size;
• Administrative costs saved by participating in the state plan;
• Savings realized by not paying a profit margin to an insurance carrier by choosing to participate in the partnership plan; and
• Family composition, including:
• Employee plus family;
• Employee and spouse;
• Employee and child;
• Employee plus one dependent; and
• Employee plus two or more dependents.

• Establishes a 12-member Nonstate Public Health Care Advisory Committee, which must make recommendations to the Health Care Cost Containment Committee (HCCCC) regarding health care coverage for nonstate public employees (Sec. 6).

Full Bill Text