Andy Slavitt, one of the people who led Medicare, Medicaid, and administration of the Affordable Care Act, said Monday that Ned Lamont has a better handle on how to improve access to health care and make it more affordable for Connecticut residents.
“This is one of the widest gulfs of two candidates in terms of candidates that I’ve observed around the country,” Slavitt told the audience at the Yale Child Study Center where he spoke on a panel with Lamont.
He said Lamont, a Democrat and wealthy businessman from Greenwich, would do a better job of working toward and achieving goals that make health care more accessible than Republican Bob Stefanowski would.
“There’s a very clear choice. One candidate does, the other candidate is very far from that,” he said.
Lamont said during his two previous runs for office and up to Monday, he’s asked all the time about health care issues. He said he would reach out to other governors in New England in order to band together when it comes to prescription drugs.
“Maybe Connecticut teams with Gina Raimondo and Charlie Baker to use our purchasing power to drive down those costs,” Lamont said.
Republican nominee Bob Stefanowski provided NBC Connecticut with a statement where he actually found a good deal of common ground with his Democratic counterpart.
Local
Stefanowski wrote that there is a need to increase the number of providers on Access Health Connecticut, explore federal options to reduce cost and risk for insurers, and reducing ER visits while increasing quality preventative care.
He wrote of reducing costs relating nursing care, “We need to be more proactive in transitioning seniors from costly nursing home care to more effective home and community care -- telemonitoring services under our Medicaid program are a great solution.”
On that topic, Lamont said, “How we can incent people to stay in their homes longer, not have to go to a high priced nursing home. Our parents don’t want to go to that nursing homes.”
