Gov. Dannel. P. Malloy said Tuesday his administration does not yet know whether legislative action will be required to allow Connecticut residents to keep canceled health insurance plans.
Sen. John McKinney called Friday for a special legislative session to address an announcement by President Barack Obama last week aimed at allowing Americans to keep health insurance plans that have been cancelled since the roll-out of the Affordable Care Act.
According to McKinney, who is seeking the Republican nomination in next year’s gubernatorial race, a state law will prevent Connecticut’s insurance commissioner from acting on the discretion Obama gave states last week. He called on Malloy to convene lawmakers to fix the holdup.
Asked about the issue at an unrelated event Tuesday in Meriden, Malloy said his administration was trying to identify which plans are being directly impacted by the Affordable Care Act. He said they were working to understand “what the scope of the problem is, and what we can possibly do about it.”
“We’re working on it,” he said. “I just was on the phone participating in a meeting that’s taking place at the Capitol right now.”
Malloy said legislative action may not be required.
“Don’t know whether it’s necessary yet, and of course that doesn’t resolve the federal problem because we don’t control the federal legislation. So without a two-step process, and that is an acceptable fix in Washington, I’m not sure we would ever need such a session,” he said.
The governor also criticized the Obama administration’s handling of the rollout of the healthcare law.
“I think Washington has messed this thing up pretty badly. I’m not happy with them. We’ve done a great job here in Connecticut and I think that we can do a better job helping folks,” he said.
