WASHINGTON - Sen. Richard Blumenthal is an enthusiastic supporter of submarines, jet engines, helicopters - any piece of defense hardware made in Connecticut.
But when it comes to health insurance, the senior senator’s home-state advocacy is very much open to question.
Blumenthal is one of 14 co-sponsors of the “Medicare for All Act of 2019” - introduced earlier this month by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a leading left-of-center contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.
If signed into law, the bill would establish a health-insurance system financed by a single payer: The United States Government. It would be Medicare on steroids, with no premiums or deductibles and co-pays only for prescription drugs. Taxes might rise but out-of-pocket costs would plummet, its advocates say.
But the collateral damage to the health-insurance industry - and insurance in general - is little discussed in the debate over how to fix the 2010 Affordable Care Act. Health insurance companies employ 9,500 in Connecticut, with an annual payroll of $1.1 billion, according to data gathered by America’s Health Insurance Plans - AHIP - the main trade group for health insurers.
The largest provider of health insurance in Connecticut is Aetna, which after merging with CVS last year agreed to abandon plans to move to New York and instead remain in Hartford -roots that go back to 1819. Cigna is the other main health-insurance player with a long history in Connecticut. Its headquarters now are in Bloomfield and Philadelphia.
The Sanders “Medicare-for-all” measure would essentially wipe out the role of private insurance in health care.
The 200-plus million Americans who get private insurance (180 million through...
from News https://www.ctpost.com/politics/article/For-CT-delegation-Medicare-for-all-a-13803375.php
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