| Crossposted from Working Families' Party Line blog by Working Families director Jon Green.
Yesterday, the legislature overturned Governor Rell's vetoes on two important healthcare bills, and came one vote shy of overturning another one. But there's still plenty left to do.
The legislature overrode the Governor's veto of Sustinet, which establishes the framework for a universal healthcare system that could be implemented in 2012, pending further legislative approval (and financing) in 2011. Next, the janitor's standard wage bill. This bill ensures that state-contracted janitors can maintain healthcare for their families. What would have been the hat trick, the Healthcare Partnership Bill, which would allow municipalities, small employers, and non-profits, to join the state health insurance plan, failed when Senator Joan Hartley left the chamber instead of voting, leaving the bill one vote shy of an override.
There's a lot of much deserved celebration going on today. If they gave oscars for organizing, The Universal Healthcare Foundation, and SEIU local 32 BJ certainly both deserve one. After all, the legislature overrode the Governor's veto of Sustinet, which sets forth the plan for the most ambitious universal healthcare in the country - and in the Insurance Capitol, no less. Surely, it's a tremendous accomplishment.
But now what? The bill that was overridden yesterday puts the framework of the Sustinet plan in place - but remember, the plan won't go into effect without further legislative action in 2011.
You think the CBIA and the insurance lobby fought hard this time? Just wait until the vote to actually fund the Sustinet plan. We ain't seen nothing yet.
All it took was peeling away a single Senator, Joan Hartley (D, Insurance Lobby) to kill the more modest (but effective immediately) Connecticut Healthcare Partnership.
The campaign to put the Sustinet plan into action will be even harder. So it's time to start a collective brainstorm to answer this question: what will it take to make the Sustinet plan a reality in 2011?
I'm asking for your help. What kind organizing should we be doing? Which elected officials need the most pressure and how should that happen?
Help us figure it out: what can we do in the next 2 years to turn this planning stage into a real healthcare plan that is accessible and affordable for everyone in Connecticut? |
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