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March 11, 2020

Public-option bill clears committee in coronavirus crunch

Photo | CT Mirror/MARK PAZNIOKAS Rep. Sean Scanlon, right, and Sen. Matthew Lesser.
By Matt Pilon

Seeking to rush its workload as the coronavirus threatens to cut short the legislative session, the Insurance and Real Estate Committee has voted to send a controversial public-option health plan bill to the Senate floor.

Senate Bill 346 was among several dozen bills the committee approved on Tuesday,  either as is or with substitute language.

After reading off the long list of bills, Rep. Sean Scanlon (D-Guilford), the committee’s co-chair, said the rush to consider bills was due to concerns over coronavirus (COVID-19), and he noted that Tuesday’s committee gathering  “could be our last meeting for an undetermined period of time.”

The Capitol will be closed Thursday and Friday for cleaning, and lawmakers have warned that the session’s regular schedule, which ends May 6, could be further affected.

The public-option bill, a version of which failed last year even after it was endorsed by Gov. Ned Lamont, faces steep opposition from the health insurance industry.

The current bill would create the “ConnectHealth Program,” to be established by State Comptroller Kevin Lembo, to “offer high-quality, low-cost health insurance coverage to enrollees.”

It also aims to provide the statewide Husky dental plan to individuals enrolled in the plan.

Lembo praised the committee’s Tuesday ovote, saying it “recognizes that Connecticut’s workforce deserves access to the same quality care that their elected officials enjoy.”

“Expanding quality health care access to Connecticut’s small businesses, nonprofits and their workers is the right and moral thing to do – to correct a fatal market failure and protect Connecticut’s workforce,” he said.

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