Comptroller Natalie Braswell on Wednesday released the annual report of the Connecticut Partnership Plan, detailing the financial success of the health plan that provides medical and prescription drug coverage for over 60,000 teachers, first responders, other municipal workers and their families.
The report shows that in Fiscal Year 2021, the plan took in more in premiums than it paid in claims — its third consecutive year of positive performance.
“The Partnership Plan is a tremendous success story for Connecticut,” said Comptroller Braswell. “Through aggressive oversight by my office, creative contracting and innovative partnerships with our state’s health care sector, we’ve been able to save municipal taxpayers money and provide world class health coverage for local workers, many of whom have been on the frontline of the pandemic response.”
The Partnership Plan gives non-state public employers the choice to buy in to the state health plan. Currently, 153 unique groups are enrolled, covering 63,323 total members. In FY21, the Partnership Plan took in approximately $557 million in premiums from enrolled members and paid out approximately $508 million in claims. The plan’s Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) — the percent of premium dollars spend on claims — was 91.2 percent. Independent actuaries project to the plan’s MLR to be below 100 percent again in FY22.
“The past two years have underscored how important access to quality, affordable health care is to residents,” said Stamford Mayor Caroline Simmons. “The Partnership Plan provides life-saving coverage for municipal workers and their families and I’m grateful to the Comptroller’s Office for their commitment and work toward making this a viable and successful health care plan for Connecticut families.”
Administrative costs in the plan remained under 3 percent of premiums and are anticipated to decrease to 2.4 percent in the current fiscal year. Partnership Plan members enjoy access to the same robust health care programming as state employees, including the nationally renowned Health Enhancement Program (HEP) which incentives workers to get routine preventive screenings to avoid catastrophic and expensive illnesses, and properly manage chronic conditions.
“The data in this report proves that the Partnership Plan is working as designed and is a critical tool in keeping workers healthy and stabilizing municipal budgets,” said Braswell. “Town and city leaders from all corners of our state — even those who opt not to join the plan — benefit from having the choice. The ongoing pandemic has proven definitively that policymakers in our state should be laser-focused on getting more residents this type of comprehensive, reliable coverage. The Partnership Plan should be a model for how we accomplish that.”
The report also details the program’s oversight and transparency requirements, funding status and the 2019 legislative fix implementing regional rate adjustments, which are now applied to all enrolled groups.
To read the report in full, click here.
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