Williams Votes Against Costly Health Care Proposals

HARTFORD — Increased costs for residents is a side effect of two well-intentioned health care concepts considered today by the Insurance Committee, Rep. Sean Williams said. Williams voted against a broad-scope proposal (S.B. 14) prohibiting co-payments for preventative care such as annual physicals, routine prenatal and well-child care, and tobacco cessation programs. Committee member Williams also voted against a proposal (H.B. 5009) that would expand health care coverage at the expense of taxpayers — an added cost residents just can’t afford in tough economic times.

“Making sure people have the coverage they need at prices everyone can afford is among the most challenging issue on any legislator’s plate, and I don’t know anyone here who isn’t shooting for that goal,” Williams said, “but in these proposals the balance is just out of whack.”

If the legislature stripped co-payments from preventative care visits, insurance companies would merely shift the costs tied to the doctor’s visits to all of their customers, Williams said.

The second proposal—Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed the concept last year—would require health insurance companies to provide coverage for things such as prosthetic devices, promotion of behavior wellness programs and wigs for patients who suffer hair loss due to certain medial conditions.

As well-intentioned as it is, such an unfunded mandate could significantly affect the price of the state’s health care plan as well as the rates paid by municipalities for their employees, Williams said. What’s more, increased costs driven by legislative action means that, ultimately, fewer people will be insured—something that would trigger more clamor for government action on the topic.

“Over and over we’ve seen lawmakers tweak small pieces of the health care system, but that constant tinkering, in many cases, is what drives the system’s bigger problems,” Williams said.

“And it’s becoming increasingly clear that aspects of national health care reform are a side effect of increased health care costs associated with proposals such as these,” he said.