Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut

Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut is an independent, nonprofit organization[2] with offices in Meriden, Connecticut.[3] The foundation supports the mission of its parent organization, CHART (Connecticut Health Advancement and Research Trust). The foundation has assets of approximately $30 million.[4]

Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut
Motto"The Mission is to serve as a catalyst that engages residents and communities in shaping a democratic health system that provides universal access to quality, affordable health care and promotes health in Connecticut."
TypeNonprofit organization
HeadquartersMeriden, CT, United States
Chair
Marian A. Evans
Revenue (2015)
$2,467,029[1]
Expenses (2015)$1,389,558[1]
Websitewww.universalhealthct.org

Purpose

The foundation has several ideas for universal health care that it believes can be enacted and be affordable for government, consumers and businesses. The organization insists on certain benchmarks: universality, affordability for families and individuals, high quality care, and the ability to continue health care coverage through changing circumstances.[5] The foundation says it believes health care is a fundamental right.[6]

History

In 1997, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut Comptroller Nancy Wyman and a coalition of advocacy and labor organizations sued the for-profit Anthem Insurance Co. over its merger with the non-profit Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Connecticut. The aim was to recover tax benefits and other concessions that the former Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Connecticut had received over several decades. The lawsuit was dropped after Anthem Insurance agreed to a settlement in 1999. As a result, the state established the Connecticut Health Advancement and Research Trust. Anthem Foundation of Connecticut was incorporated as a supporting organization to CHART.[7]

It is one of about 165 foundations nationwide to be created by conversions of nonprofit health corporations to for-profit entities. As a condition of these conversions, the law requires that the assets of the nonprofit be retained for some public purpose.[4]

At the time, Attorney General Blumenthal called the agreement "a historic victory". The foundation received $41 million to carry out the conditions of the settlement. It was charged with working toward system-wide health care reform.[8] The agreement established Anthem Foundation's legal obligation to help improve health care for those who need it most.[9] The foundation was incorporated in 2000. It opened its first offices in New Haven, Connecticut. In January 2003, Juan Figueroa, a former community organizer, former Connecticut legislator, former assistant attorney general of Connecticut and former president and general counsel of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund in New York,[10] became foundation president. In 2004, the foundation changed its name to reflect a final separation from the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Connecticut. At the time, Figueroa stated that no relationship with Anthem existed and that the foundation's main focus was passage of universal health care.[11]

Since 2004, the foundation has awarded over $7 million in grants to organizations to advance that goal.[12]

In 2007, the Hartford Business Journal chose Juan Figueroa as a 2007 "Health Care Hero".[13]

SustiNet

In January 2009 the foundation unveiled SustiNet, a proposal for a statewide health care plan for Connecticut that would provide residents with their choice of health coverage and care regardless of their employment status, age, or pre-existing conditions.[14]

SustiNet would emphasize preventive care and the management of chronic illnesses. It would create a large health insurance pool by combining state employees, retirees, and people covered by state assistance programs. The pool would also be open to members of the public without insurance, those with inadequate insurance, and employers, starting with small businesses, nonprofits and municipalities. Eventually, Sustinet would be open to larger employers wishing to insure their employees through the plan.

According to analysis by the nation's leading health economists, SustiNet would reduce the proportion of state residents without health coverage from 12 percent to 2 percent by 2014. In addition, SustiNet would bring about savings in the private sector which would far exceed additional state government expenditures.[15]

SustiNet passed its first hurdle in the General Assembly's joint committees on Thursday, March 26, receiving a favorable report from the Public Health Committee, which voted 22-8 to move the bill forward.[16] On May 20, 2009, the House of Representatives voted 107-35 for SustiNet,[17] and on the 30th, the Senate did the same, 23-12.[18] SustiNet was sent to Governor M. Jodi Rell, who vetoed it on July 8.[19] On July 20 the governor's vetoes were overridden by the Connecticut House of Representatives with a vote of 102 to 40 and then by the Connecticut Senate with a vote of 24-12.[20]

References
  1. "Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, Inc" (PDF). Foundation Center. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
  2. Waterbury Republican American, "Black business group receives $40,000 grant", May 10, 2005
  3. http://www.taxexemptworld.com/organization.asp?tn=78249
  4. The American Prospect, "Why Not Connecticut", April 21, 2008
  5. Meriden-Record Journal, "Universal Health Care Ideas Still In Formative Stages", Dec.14, 2006
  6. New London Day, "Chamber to Use Grant to Conduct Health-Care Survey", November 1, 2006
  7. http://www.consumersunion.org/conv/pub/state/ct/%5B%5D
  8. "Wyman, Blumenthal Announce $41 Million Settlement of Lawsuits Against Anthem Insurance Co. Inc." Press Release, Attorney General’s Office, July 27, 1999
  9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on June 3, 2010. Retrieved October 27, 2008.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. New York Times, "Public Lives; Memories of Paradise (Plus a Few Bombs)", May 9, 2000
  11. New Haven Register, "New Haven, Conn.-based foundation splits from Anthem with Name Change", July 28, 2004
  12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on May 17, 2008. Retrieved October 27, 2008.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. Hartford Business Journal, "Health Care Heroes 2007" December 10, 2007
  14. The New York Times, "Hartford Hears Health Care Proposal", January 16, 2009
  15. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 28, 2011. Retrieved January 20, 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. Hartford Courant, "Health Plan Advances", March 28, 2009
  17. Hartford Courant, "Connecticut House Backs Universal Health Care Coverage", May 21, 2009
  18. Hartford Courant, "Senate Approves Two Controversial Healthcare Bills Saturday", May 30, 2009
  19. http://blogs.courant%5B%5D>.com/capitol_watch/2009/07/rell-vetoes-controversial-pool.html "Rell Vetoes Controversial Pooling and SustiNet Bills"], Hartford Courant, July 8, 2009
  20. "House and Senate Both Override Rell on Universal Health Bill" Hartford Courant, July 20, 2009
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