The Office of the State Comptroller has released the first health equity report on the state employee health plan.
The state plan outperformed other insurance plans across all racial groups for cancer screening, as well as for chronic disease management, officials said. Still, racial disparities exist within the state plan.
“By prioritizing preventive care, and removing barriers between patients and their doctors, the state plan is effectively fighting back against racial disparities that commonly plague the healthcare system,” Comptroller Natalie Braswell said in a statement.
Braswell cited the state’s Health Enhancement Program, which offers financial incentives to employees who get medical exams, cancer screenings and dental screenings. Employees can see lower premium payments, deductibles and copays.
“Since HEP (Health Enhancement Program) was implemented, my office has heard from many members who were able to detect cancer early and now credit the program with saving their lives,” Braswell said.
The analysis compared medical and prescription drug claims in the state employee health plan to about 100 other health plans that include 2 million members.
Connecticut’s HEP compliance for cancer screenings was 23% for breast cancer (compared to the benchmark compliance of 8%); 25% for cervical cancer (compared to 8%); 17% for colorectal cancer (compared to 5%); and 23% for prostate cancer (compared to 6.6%), according to data between 2017 and 2020.
“I think it’s doing really well, compared to the general population,” said Samantha Schenck, associate professor of economics at Central Connecticut State University, who is also a Connecticut employee.
Schenck lives in Massachusetts and switched state health plans recently.
“We’re really loving this insurance much better than our Massachusetts one,” she said.
But she says, “There’s more work to be done, especially when it comes to access.”
There are disparities for Black and Hispanic members of the state health plan. Black and Hispanic members were more likely to seek emergency care and less likely to make preventive visits.
Those in some geographic areas also had barriers to access. And, non-white plan participants had higher rates of diabetes.
State officials hope to expand the HEP model beyond state workers. This past year’s budget adjustment includes a provision introduced by the Lamont administration to require health carriers to offer versions of HEP to their enrolled members. Those plans must be available by Jan. 1, 2024.
