Connecticut Awarded $1.3 Million To Promote Prevention, Public Health

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As a result of the new health care law, Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd (D) announced that Connecticut residents purchasing or joining new health insurance plans will now receive preventive services without having to pay a co-payment, coinsurance, or a deductible.

Beginning in 2011, more than 547,000 Connecticut residents on Medicare will also receive free preventive services, including annual wellness visits.

“Under the new health care reform law, the people of Connecticut will no longer have to pay out of their own pockets for preventive services that will keep them healthy and could save their lives,” said Sen Dodd. “This is a critical step to improving health insurance coverage in Connecticut and yet another example of how the landmark health care reform law provides all Americans with quality and affordable health care.”

Sen Dodd played a key role in writing and passing The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and fought to ensure that Americans would have access to preventive services, with no co-payments or deductibles, including immunizations, colorectal cancer screenings, mammograms, and prenatal health care.

The veteran lawmaker also worked closely with his colleagues to include the Prevention and Public Health Trust Fund in the final health care reform bill, which provides funding to expand preventive services through school-based clinics and community health centers.

As a result, Connecticut was awarded $1,346,720 in grants through the health care reform law’s Prevention and Public Health Fund that will support a variety of critical public health programs, including HIV testing programs and tobacco cessation efforts.

The following is a list of Connecticut prevention and public health programs receiving funding:

*$145,567 CDC Expanded HIV Testing Grant;

*$79,714 CDC HIV Surveillance Grant;

*$68,102 CDC Tobacco Quitlines Grant to Connecticut Department of Health;

*$556,474 CDC Epidemiology & Laboratory Capacity/Emerging Infections Program Grant to Connecticut State Department of Public Health; and

*$496,863 SAMHSA Primary Care & Behavioral Health Grant to Community Mental Health Affiliates, Inc.

In addition to increased preventive services, as a result of the new law, Americans are now protected by critical new consumer protections included in The Patient’s Bill of Rights that end some of the worst insurance company abuses, and put consumers, not insurance companies, in control of their health care, according to a release.