The second stop on Sen. Chris Dodd's Connecticut Prescriptions for Change listening tour took him to Western Connecticut State University, where he was joined by a handful of special guests:

• Representative Chris Murphy
• Kevin Lembo, CT Health Care Advocate
• Johnna Torsone, Pitney Bowes
• Ron Williams, Aetna
• Jeanette DeJesus, Hispanic Health Council

Just as with the first event in East Hartford, we have posted videos from the event below. However, the true highlights of the event came out of the Q&A. Below is a video of the first questioner, Jim Mellett, who likens insurance companies to 800 pound gorillas:

The Danbury News-Times reported on the event, and in addition to recounting Jim's question for their readership, they summed up the event thusly:

The message was clear -- the American health care system is limping along, growing worse each day.

Premiums are constantly on the rise. More and more money is being taken from paychecks for health care coverage. "Pre-existing condition" is insurance talk for "we won't pay."

Some 45 million people don't have coverage at all.

Those in the audience who work in the industry complained record keeping is in the stone ages.

Click "read more" below to view the remaining videos.

Senator Chris Dodd kicked off his Connecticut Prescriptions for Change listening tour at Goodwin College in East Hartford, where he was joined by a number of special guests:

• Representative John Larson
• Kevin Lembo, CT Health Care Advocate
• Sharon Langer, CT Voices for Children
• Judy Stein, Center for Medicare Advocacy
• David Fusco, Anthem BCBS of Connecticut
• Juan Figueroa, Universal Health Care Foundation of CT
• Lauren Reinmann, High School Health Care Activist

Senator Dodd's office released a statement following the event:

“The response today was overwhelming,” said Dodd. “The discussion we had affirmed how deeply committed and passionate people in Connecticut are about seizing the moment that President Obama spoke about this week to transform our health care system. The stories, experiences, and concerns people shared with me today will be a tremendous resource as we get to work to craft a reform package that makes health care affordable and accessible for every American.”

You can view Senator Dodd's remarks at the event in the video below. For more information about the Connecticut Prescriptions for Change tour, contact Senator Dodd’s office at 860-258-6940 or email ctrx4change@dodd.senate.gov

Senator Chris Dodd

There are many more videos to watch. Click "read more" to check them out. Other coverage of the event can be found at CT Local Politics, and on Senator Dodd's YouTube channel.

Below are videos from the launch of SustiNet in Hartford last week. To learn more about SustiNet, check out this article on CCAG.net, or visit SustiNet.org

Universal Health Care Foundation President Juan A. Figueroa

CT House Speaker Chris Donovan

There are four more videos below. Click on "read more" to see them.

Local media reports on the January 13 launch of SustiNet are pouring in. Below are excerpts and links from around the web:

• CT News Junkie - "Tonight We Have a Plan" (With Video)

Dr. Michael Deren, council chairman of the Connecticut State Medical Society, said many times these health care proposals are written in a vacuum without the input from medical physicians. He said that’s not the case with Sustinet, where the input of the medical society’s 7,000 members was welcomed and incorporated as part of the plan.

“If the concepts in the plan are passed things will change,” he said.

But Tuesday night was not about facts and figures or details about the plan it was a rally and a celebration.

The rally call Tuesday night was a resounding “Yes we can!” followed by “Yes we will!”

Also at CT News Junkie - Health Care Campaign Unveiled


• New Britain Herald - Hundred Hear Plan to Cover Connecticut

“This is our first down payment on health care for everyone,” said Universal Health Care Foundation President Juan Figueroa. “Our state and the nation face critical challenges because of our floundering economy and skyrocketing health care costs. SustiNet provides the legislature, which convened last week, with an innovative and practical blueprint for change. Our proposal is action-ready.”

Continue reading for reports from NPR, WFSB Channel 3, the Hartford Courant, CT Local Politics, Real Hartford, and the New Haven Register.

The Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut launched SustiNet, its proposal to ensure that everybody in the state has high quality health care that is also portable and affordable. The plan's name, SustiNet, is the latin word for sustain, and was chosen in part because it is a key word in the Connecticut State Motto, but mostly because good health will sustain the people of Connecticut and bolster our economy.

SustiNet Overview

A 7-minute video overview of the SustiNet proposal for
health care we can count on.

SustiNet was developed over the course of two years with the input of Connecticut residents, policymakers, businesses, health care workers, organized labor, clergy and consumer advocates. It addresses not only the need to increase and improve access and affordability of health care, but the shortfalls of our current health care delivery system. It does this by proposing that every patient have a "medical home" to help coordinate care and encourage healthy lifestyle changes; by having clinicians play a more significant role in determining the standards of care; and by implementing standardized electronic medical records.

SustiNet does not seek to replace private health insurers, but to compete with them. The SustiNet plan does not have mandatory enrollment, and so those who are happy with their current health benefits may keep them. However, the plan makes enrollment automatic and easy for the uninsured. The SustiNet plan provides all of the benefits commonly included with employer sponsored coverage, including mental and dental health. Individual costs (premiums and co-pays) are subsidized on a sliding scale based on income, and any resident who applies will be accepted, regardless of pre-existing conditions.

According to a recent report by Families USA, in order for an average Connecticut family with an unemployed breadwinner to continue health care coverage under COBRA, it would exhaust 80% of their unemployment benefits each month. This puts Connecticut families in a situation where they have little choice but to go without health insurance. In the New Britain Herald, Scott Whipple reports on the tough choices that families in the state are facing:

A report issued on the same day the government released its latest unemployment data shows most laid-off people are likely to lose their health coverage.

The average national premium costs for family COBRA coverage consume almost 84 percent of average unemployment benefits. COBRA — Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act — gives workers and their families the right to continue health benefits following job loss by paying the full cost of insurance.

[...]

“COBRA health coverage is a great concept but lousy in reality,” said Phil Sherwood, deputy director of the Connecticut Citizen Action Group. “For the vast majority of workers laid off in Connecticut, they and their families are likely to join the ranks of the uninsured. There needs to be a safety net.”

Sherwood called it “egregious that we have a health care system that if you get laid off you lose your health care. A better system would be one that’s portable, that moves with you from job to job, so when there’s an economic downturn Americans aren’t left unable to afford protection.”

[...]

“The right to COBRA health coverage is a tragic ruse for millions of families whose breadwinner was laid off,” said Ron Pollack, Families USA’s Executive Director. “Unemployed workers need either premium subsidies to help them afford COBRA benefits or temporary health safety-net coverage through Medicaid.”

Scott's article continues with a brief description of plans from three of Connecticut's federal legislators Sen. Chris Dodd, Rep. Chris Murphy, and Rep. John Larson.

Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd, in his capacity as a senior member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) released a statement following a hearing on the nomination of former Senator Tom Daschle to Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. In the portion of the statement excerpted below, Sen. Dodd begins making the case for health care reform by citing facts about how the broken system fails to fully serve his constituents in Connecticut:

The case for reform of our health care system has never been stronger. Many say Americans have the best health care in the world and for many Americans that may be true. But how effective can that system be if it is unaffordable and inaccessible to millions of Americans? In [Connecticut], health care premiums have shot up 42 percent in the last 8 years – in the last two years, nearly 1 in 10 of our people have had no health insurance at all.

And how can we have a world-class health care system if high-quality care and value are inadequate in many parts of the country despite $2 trillion in annual health care spending?

At the same time, our health care system is failing millions of our nation’s children and adolescents. The U.S. is a leader among industrialized nations in infant mortality, affecting African American babies at more than two times the rate as non-Hispanic white babies. That is unacceptable.

Our system is creating a generation of children who may well be the first generation of American children who will live shorter, less healthy lives than their parents. That, too, is unacceptable.

This is happening, in part, because our system is driven not by the prevention of illness and disability but the treatment of illness and disability. It’s completely backwards – and it has to change. And with [Tom Daschle's] leadership and the work of this committee, I believe it can and will change.

(emphasis added)

You can read the full statement and watch a video of the hearing at this link.

Senator Dodd will also be kicking off a listening tour in state called Connecticut Prescriptions for Change starting in East Hartford on January 23rd. Details here.

Congressman Chris Murphy, who represents Connecticut's 5th Congressional District, showed his support for the Health Care for America Now! campaign's principles at the Community Health Center in Meriden. Immediately below is a brief video from today's event:

Congressman Chris Murphy has recently been named to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is one of the two House Committees that will guide national health reform efforts. He was joined in Meriden by Richard Hirsch, who is the campaign manager for Health Care for America Now!

The full event today, including all guest speakers:

Connecticut's 4th Congressional District Representative-elect, Jim Himes, signed on to the Health Care for America Now! principles today at the Norwalk Community Health Center. Below is a video of the statement he made prior to signing his name.

Once Jim Himes is sworn in, all members of Connecticut's delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives will be on the side of quality, affordable health care for all.

The HealthCare4Every1 Campaign is touring the state this December and January to talk with neighbors, faith leaders, doctors, small business owners and others about how we can work together to win quality, affordable health care for everyone. The campaign has already made stops in Torrington and Hamden, and will end with a stop in Hartford and the launch of the Connecticut plan for health care we can all count on.

Some of the people who attended the kick-off event in Torrington took time out to write why they support healthcare4every1:

You can catch the HealthCare4Every1 campaign at four upcoming stops, the details of which are linked below

Upcoming Tour Stops:

• Willimantic -- Tuesday, December 16 more info
• Meriden -- Wednesday, December 17 more info
• Norwalk -- Thursday, January 8 more info
• Hartford -- Tuesday, January 13 (statewide launch of the Connecticut plan for health care we can count on) more info