New Haven Independent

Health Care

Health Care Face-off

by Melissa Bailey | Mar 30, 2006 9:05 am | Comments (0)

Universal health care- they both want it. But at a debate Wednesday night, the two Democratic candidates in this year’s race for governor clashed over how and for whom.

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Rell Pushes HMOs

by Paul Bass | Mar 26, 2006 11:01 am | Comments (0)

Gov. Jodi Rell had to make a choice. Would she support one of her top aides and help HMOs continue to defy an order to come clean with how they spend over $700 million in taxpayer money earmarked by health care for the poor? Or would she push the HMOs to obey the order—issued by the state Freedom of Information Commission (FOIC)—to make public documents about how they spend the money? A letter from Rell’s staff lawyer to the FOIC gives the answer: She’s siding with the public. Click here to read the letter.

A “Win-Win-Win” Deal Struck on Cancer Center

by Paul Bass | Mar 22, 2006 7:13 pm | Comments (6)

Yale-New Haven’s long-stalled $430 million proposed cancer center will now race ahead to a ground-breaking within six months and a union election among the hospital’s blue-collar workers could take place nine months later, thanks to an agreement announced by Mayor John DeStefano (at right) and hospital chief Marna Borgstrom (left) at a jubilant City Hall ceremony Wednesday evening.

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Hospital Hit With New Debt-Collection Accusations

by Paul Bass | Mar 21, 2006 3:21 pm | Comments (4)

Yale-New Haven Hospital is in the for-profit debt collection business in a way that compromises its charitable mission, charges a new report issued by the hospital’s critics. The report’s release comes on the eve of a long-awaited legislative showdown Wednesday night on Yale-New Haven’s plans to build a $430 million cancer center. Hospital spokesman Vin Petrini (pictured) dismissed the accusations as another tactic aimed to derail the cancer center.

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Read The Governor’s Mail

by Paul Bass | Mar 20, 2006 5:47 pm | Comments (0)

You can read the same letters the governor is receiving about the fight to make HMOs fess up about how they’re spending $625 million of our money on the HUSKY health-care program. Today the governor got a letter from one of the lawyers who won a case before the state Freedom of Information Commission. Click here to read it. That letter responds to a letter the governor received last week from her social-services chief about charges that she’s helping HMOs to stonewall. Click here to read it. And see what you would decide in the governor’s shoes.

Not With The Program

by Paul Bass | Mar 16, 2006 6:34 pm | Comments (0)

Does the state Department of Social Services (DSS) report to the governor… or HMOs? Technically, the governor. But it keeps defying the governor—and the state Freedom of Information Commission (FOIC)—by helping HMOs keep secret details of how they spend $625 million in administering Connecticut’s HUSKY health care program for the poor. So charge advocates who went to the FOIC Thursday to try to force the DSS to abide by a ruling and insist that HMOs make the information public. Click file to read a release and letter to the guv from the advocates. Click here to read DSS’s response. Click here to read a letter from the attorney general to DSS’s chief about dealings with HMOs. And click here to read her response.

Where’s Stop & Shop?

by Dan Levine | Mar 15, 2006 7:51 pm | Comments (0)

Vincent DeMarco came to Connecticut Wednesday to offer advice on how to pass a “fair share health care bill” like the one he helped pass in Maryland to push companies like Wal-Mart to pay more for their workers’ insurance. Suggestion: Make it a “pro-business bill.” That helped convince Stop & Shop’s parent to get on board the Maryland campaign, but the supermarket chain has kept its distance here.  Click here to read Dan Levine’s report.

Latino Ministers Push for Universal Care

by Melinda Tuhus | Mar 14, 2006 4:29 pm | Comments (1)

When it comes to promoting health care access for all in Connecticut, a new voice has emerged from the Latino community: the Federation of United Hispanic Ministers of Connecticut. New Haven’s Abraham Hernandez (pictured) is the new group’s executive secretary.

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City Tackles Lead Poisoning—With Success

by Melinda Tuhus | Mar 10, 2006 3:49 pm | Comments (0)

New Haven still has the state’s highest rate of children with lead poisoning, like 18 month-old Piper Forbush (pictured). The good news is that the city has dramatically cut that rate.

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Looking for Human Slaves in the Doctor’s Office

by Sharon Bass | Mar 10, 2006 1:20 pm | Comments (0)

Lynn Price, a volunteer at Fair Haven Community Health Center, and fellow nursing professor Barbara Moynihan are checking in with doctor’s and other health-care offices throughout the state to track down information on human slavery. Moynihan and Price (center and right in photo) talked about their work Thursday with students like Natalia Oliveira (at left).

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