“When the market is not working, states can take action,” said Dr. Deidre Gifford, the physician and health-care cost expert who advises the governor on health issues as the executive director of the Office of Health Strategies.
Gov. Ned Lamont addressed rising health costs and hospital consolidation Tuesday with two bills that put a free-market governor at odds with Big Pharma and a hospital industry that is a major employer.
Connecticut hospitals saw their assets swell 30 percent over 12 months in 2021, the result of both federal pandemic aid as well as a booming stock market.
For the first time in years, the state's Medicaid program is seeing a noticeable uptick in primary care doctor participation, thanks largely to a temporary bump in pay physicians receive from the federal government.