Conn. reps seek near-universal health coverage

HARTFORD, Connecticut (Reuters) - Four Connecticut state lawmakers proposed on Tuesday a $900 million program to bring health-care to the state's poor and uninsured, weighing in on a growing national debate over health-care reform.

State Democratic Rep. Brian O'Connor said the program would offer tax credits to small businesses that employ the largest numbers of uninsured workers and would be funded in part by a rise in taxes on hospitals, doctors and laboratories.

It also would seek a vanity sales tax on plastic surgery, higher state cigarette taxes, funds from tobacco litigation settlements and a federal reimbursement from spending on Medicaid and health coverage for uninsured children.

Another $600 million would come from a 3 percent "provider" tax on hospitals, doctors, laboratories and home health-care services, which are now tax-exempt, said O'Connor, who is chairman of the state legislature's Insurance Committee.

He said the tax would be an "incentive for the physicians to, basically, provide health care."

Michael Christ, a Democrat who is deputy majority leader in the state's House of Representatives, also sponsored the measure but said it lacks the full backing of House leaders but had piqued their interest.

"After discussion with the speaker, he's encouraged by our concepts and by our ideas," Christ said. "I don't think he is ready to endorse any specific plan."

"While we don't have top leadership saying 'This is the bill we are going to go with', we expect to work with our colleagues in the House and the Senate and see what type of support we do have," he added.

He said the goal was to reduce the ranks of uninsured to just 3 percent of Connecticut's 3.4 million residents in five years, compared to nearly 6 percent of the state population who lacked health insurance according to a 2004 state estimate.

The plan was roundly criticized by the Connecticut State Medical Society, which represents 7,000 physicians.

"I really don't see how that is going to increase access to quality patient, medical and surgical care to the people in the state of Connecticut when you have a tax on the services physicians are supplying," said the group's chairman, Dr. Michael Deren.

Health-care reform, which has foundered at the federal level, is emerging as a hot issue as growing numbers of U.S. states look for ways to reverse a trend that has left more than 47 million Americans uninsured as traditional employer-based coverage shrinks.