Healthfirst Connecticut Authority
HEALTHFIRST CONNECTICUT AUTHORITY REPORT TO LEGISLATURE MARCH 11TH, 2009 SUBMITTED BY MARGARET FLINTER AND TOM SWAN CO-CHAIRS March 11, 2009 An open letter to the people of Connecticut regarding the work and recommendations of the HealthFirst Ct. Authority: Over the past eighteen months, we have been honored to serve as co‐chairs of the HealthFirst Ct. Authority. The Authority is a group of citizens appointed by the Legislature in 2007 to study and recommend ways to guarantee that all Connecticut residents have access to health insurance coverage and to safe, quality, health care. It was a tall order when we were appointed, and the profound changes in our state and country over the past year have only made it more so. We, along with our fellow members of the Authority, bring our own personal and professional experiences, beliefs, and values to the work. We represent many different walks of life, but when we accepted our appointments to the Authority, we indicated our commitment to the Institute of Medicine’s principles for coverage—continuous, equitable, affordable and sustainable—and its principles for healthcare—safe, timely, patient centered, of high quality, and effective. It would be easy for any one of us on the Authority to put forth on our own preference for how to fix our healthcare care system and say “now just do it!” But that’s not the way it works. We have had to listen, learn, and sometimes change our personal views in the interest of actually creating change for the better. We have found common ground in many areas, and not surprisingly, we have significant areas of difference on the best path forward for our state and all who live here.
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