Published April 20. 2021 5:50PM Paul Grady There’s been much attention and focus on SB 842, the newest version of an attempt to create a government-run public health care option. While well intended, it is not the solution that Connecticut needs today. Instead, we should bring the focus and attention to the area that will most immediately help patients, consumers and employers: health care costs. I have been actively involved in efforts to improve health care value in Connecticut for the last 15 years. Some of those efforts have been public − I was an original Sustinet board member, the last effort to create a public option and I am currently vice chair of the Connecticut Cost Growth Benchmark Technical Team. My work has included the creation of private initiatives − the Connecticut Business Group on Health, the Connecticut Choosing Wisely Collaborative, and the Moving to Value Alliance. I have worked closely with people on both sides of the public option debate. Through that experience, I have learned that the goals of both are aligned in many ways and are absolutely aligned in the goal of improving health care value, meaning higher quality and better access at a lower cost.