Health Care Project

Leaders and members of the Grand Avenue Village Association ("GAVA"), the Fair Haven small business association, applaud today's release of universal healthcare proposals for Connecticut by the Universal Healthcare Foundation of Connecticut. "Sounding the Alarm," a report on three policy options to achieve comprehensive reform of the state's health care system, is being released by the Foundation this morning at the State Capitol.

"Small businesses are being hammered by double digit premium increases," explained R&M Market's Norma Franceschi, co-chair of GAVA. "Health insurance premiums in Connecticut rose 56% between 2000 and 2004. This crisis starved businesses' ability to increase employee wages, which averaged only 14% over the same time period. Business owners and our employees can't take this anymore."

"It's time for our elected officials to get serious about fixing the problem," added her co-chair, Rose Cimino of Apicella's Bakery. "The Foundation's proposals released today demonstrate that it's a question of how we will fix this crisis, not whether we need to act. It's time for us all to work together to find an affordable, comprehensive solution that covers everyone and takes this burden off the back of Connecticut's small business owners and our employees."

Existing "band-aid" measures to stem the health care crisis don't work for the bakers, butchers, and candlestick makers of today: Cecilia Solano, owner of Cecy's Bakery, returns to Mexico every six months to get the needed medical care because she can't afford health insurance here and the cost of out-of-pocket treatments is too high. "Unfortunately in this country when you have a business, no matter how small, the government thinks you are millionaire, so you don't qualify for any kind of help," she explains, "Hardworking people like me don't have $1500 to pay monthly for insurance."

Los Luceros's Grangel Hernandez adds "It would be really good if something happened, if the authorities made some changes." Neither Hernandez, nor his two employees, have any health insurance coverage. "We can't even afford a back up plan in case of a serious disease or accident," explains the Grand Avenue shopkeeper, "We can't keep living the way we are right now. Even when you go to a clinic you get asked if you have health insurance, and the wait is always long. We just hope nothing really bad is going to happen until the legislators decide how to overhaul the system."

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