Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont has signed an executive order to help bring down healthcare costs.
Lamont’s order directs that the state’s Office of Health Strategy create a board to establish statewide cost benchmarks for healthcare providers.
Lamont says a similar system set up by Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker saved that state $5 billion in seven years.
“So you will be able to get a better idea of where you get the best value for your dollar. Where you have lower cost but also better outcomes. And what that means in terms of quality. So we can steer people to where they can get the best return on their health care dollars.”
Lamont says studies rank Connecticut as the sixth highest in the nation for health care spending, but there are significant income and racial disparities in the system.
He says making healthcare costs more transparent might also help reduce those disparities.
At the same time, the governor says he won’t support a state public option health plan promoted by some Democrats.
“Public option, Connecticut option, none of these things matter if we are not holding down the underlying cost of health care. Connecticut should be a leader here, and we will be a leader.”
Senate Democrats say they would like to reintroduce a proposal to open up the state employee healthcare plan to the public.
A similar bill failed last year.
