State on a stronger path

For the first time since 1893, the Connecticut state Senate was evenly divided for the 2017-18 term with 18 Democrats and 18 Republicans. This historic tie presented senators from both parties with a number of new and unforeseen challenges. Despite these potential impediments, Democrats and Republicans worked together to pass a balanced state budget, make significant investments in transportation, provide critical funding to our schools, and make significant reforms to prescription drug laws.

The bipartisan budget — the result of months of negotiations between Democrats and Republicans — restores funding for core services, protects seniors, rejects cuts to towns and local education, and blocks fare increases and service cuts for buses and trains. The bipartisan budget accomplishes all of this while not increasing taxes and putting over $1 billion into the state’s Rainy Day Fund.

Democrats fought to protect the social service safety net by restoring funding for the Medicare Savings Program in full to all 169,450 eligible seniors and funding for Husky A coverage to 13,000 low-income working parents who otherwise would lose health insurance coverage. Also included in the budget is $5 million for emergency placements for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities and fully funding thee Renters Rebate program, protecting 48,000 people without cost to our municipalities.

Republicans often falsely attempt to portray recent budgets as containing profligate spending by Democrats. The reality, however, is that our budget struggles have resulted from the volatility and unpredictability of state income tax receipts from the top 1-2 percent of taxpayers and not from unrestrained state spending. In fact, the number of full-time employees in the executive branch has declined by more than 13 percent since the end of the Republican Rell administration, and state government per-capita employment is now at its lowest level since 1960 with only 7.2 employees per 100,000 residents.

We have also been active on the consumer protection front. Connecticut became the first state in the nation to require transparency along the entire journey of a prescription drug from the manufacturer to the pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) to the insurer so that patients will know which corporations are making the highest profits on these medications. Among the specific provisions, drug companies are required to justify increases when a drug’s price rises more than 20 percent in one year or 50 percent over three years.

In addition, insurance companies are required to disclose the 25 drugs with the highest cost to the plan, the 25 drugs with the greatest year-over-year price increases, the 25 drugs most frequently prescribed, and the premium growth that is attributable to prescription drugs. PBMs are also required to report how much they collect in rebates and how much of that money they keep. Insurers are also required to report whether they use the rebates to offset premiums, or use it to pass the benefit along to consumers at the pharmacy counter.

This year, Democrats in the General Assembly championed a new law that ensures that even if the federal health care law changes, Connecticut residents will retain these protections including maternity and newborn health care, mental health and substance abuse services, prescription birth control, and ambulance and emergency services, while another new law defines pregnancy as a qualifying event for individual health insurance policies, allowing women who become pregnant to purchase insurance outside of the open enrollment period.

However, the tie in the Senate and the close partisan margin in the House of Representatives also led to a number of priorities not becoming law due to unanimous Republican opposition. Unfortunately, the entire General Assembly did not pass an earned family medical leave law, which would allow workers to take time off to care for loved ones without facing financial ruin; an increase in the minimum wage, so that people doing an honest day’s work can earn a decent living and not be dependent on public assistance; or tuition-free community college, so that every student can develop the skills needed to secure a good-paying job in our highly competitive economy.