CT Plans To Get Rising Health Care Costs Under Control: Lamont

CONNECTICUT — Gov. Ned Lamont has announced Connecticut will join a program meant to help state officials get a handle on rising health care costs.

Through the Peterson-Milbank Program for Sustainable Health Care Costs, Connecticut will receive technical assistance support over the next two years from the Milbank Memorial Fund and Bailit Health as the state implements a healthcare cost growth benchmark.

The state's acceptance into the program comes just as final recommendations were made by the Office of Healthcare Strategy’s Healthcare Cost Growth Benchmark initiative.

The Peterson-Milbank program is based upon a model used in Massachusetts, Delaware, and Rhode Island to measure statewide healthcare spending using data collected from both providers and insurers and set an annual benchmark or target for cost growth.

"Addressing the rate at which health care costs rise will yield the predictable, sustainable increases that provide across-the-board economic stability for residents, families, businesses, nonprofits, and governments," Lamont said.

With the Connecticut cost growth benchmark now in place – 3.4 percent for calendar year 2021, 3.2 percent for calendar year 2022, and 2.9 percent for calendar years 2023 to 2025 – analysts can now pinpoint the main drivers of spending growth, and then figure out how to put them in check.

We are delighted to support Connecticut, along with New Jersey, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, as these states develop the data capacity necessary to identify and address the underlying causes of rising healthcare costs," said Milbank Memorial Fund Program Officer Rachel Block said.