Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | DECEMBER 19, 2022 17 15 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | APRIL 25, 2022 I think it's important to take a look at the many different programs we have and determine if they are sustainable. At a time when you are trying to reinvent yourself and think of innovative ideas, you can't be doing everything that you've been doing before. Q. What are the key focus areas right now for the United Way? A. Early childhood education and reading proficiency by fourth grade are key issues. We also have economic mobility and workforce initiatives that we have to help prepare folks to be next-generation future leaders. Basic needs, including food assistance, shelter, utilities, are also important. We were able to provide $4 million in COVID assistance during last fiscal year. Those basic needs aren't going to go away. Those are things I believe United Way will always be involved in. United Way also runs 211, the information hotline where folks can get assistance or referrals to nonprofit agencies to get services. Q. What do you think has led to the decline in workplace giving? A. There are a couple of issues at play. I think workplace culture has changed from the 1970s to 2022. In the beginning of workplace campaigns, there was a top- down approach in terms of getting employees involved and being told they need to give and need to give to this organization. I think employees today like to be involved in the decision-making process of philanthropic giving within the company. I think you see a lot more of a bottom-up approach with philanthropy. All those things are great, but United Way kind of got lost in that shuffle. We used to be the only provider of workplace campaigns and only charity that employees would give to through their employer. Now we are in a sea of charities from A to Z and we are the U in the list. That just makes us have to work harder. The nonprofit community in general has also gotten very savvy with fundraising, which has added another layer of competition. Q. Besides creating a greater focus on a single issue, are there any other strategies you are thinking about to boost workplace giving? A. If there is a company that currently doesn't do a campaign, we always like to start with volunteerism. We will start with that as the entrance point into the relationship. We will coordinate volunteer projects. It's an employee retention strategy for their HR departments It's also an education about the needs of the community and a discussion about focusing on a specific issue the company wants to fundraise around, or they may want to do a broader community giving campaign. That's the strategy around the new business side. Also, if it's a company where employee giving is declining, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of enthusiasm around that, then we look at what are the corporate giving opportunities. Q. United Way is preparing for its centennial celebration in 2024. What opportunities does that present? A. We have 18 months of preparation and a lot of our planning for the next fiscal year will be around the centennial. There will be lots of opportunities to re-engage with donors who gave to us in the past. But it will also definitely be a future- focused centennial and about the future leaders of our community. There will be a new strategic plan going into the centennial, related to programs, volunteering, marketing. Deal Watch United Way of Central and Northeastern CT financial snapshot FY 2018 FY 2019 FY 2020 Revenue Campaign amounts raised $17,717,576 $14,341,464 $9,223,355 Total public support and revenue $13,031,831 $12,283,927 $12,472,596 Expenses Total community investment and program services $8,801,319 $9,034,926 $9,560,202 Total community investment, program and support services $12,686,791 $12,213,928 $13,303,935 Operating income $345,040 $69,999 ($831,339) Total margin ($271,156) ($1,538,235) $3,488,597 Source: United Way Annual Reports ABLE COIL | BOLTON CT MUNSONS CHOCOLATES | BOLTON CT COUZENS, DOMINGOS, ALLEN & ASSOCIATES LLC | TOLLAND CT MAX TRANSPORTATION | EAST GRANBY CT. Built For Small Business… R e t a i l • I n d u s t r i a l • C o m m e r c i a l • I n s t i t u t i o n a l • E d u c a t i o n • H e a l t h c a r e • R e l i g i o u s PDS Engineering & Construction has been meeting the needs of small businesses since 1965. Our dedicated team of design and construction professionals welcomes the challenge of serving its past and future customers on their most demanding projects. THINK • PLAN • BUILD 860.242.8586 | pdsec.com On the other hand, mandates do provide coverage that employees may value. "It's fine to say, look, if insurance didn't cover anything, it would be cheaper, I'm sure that's true," said state Sen. Matt Lesser (D-Middletown), who co-chairs the legislature's Insur- ance and Real Estate Committee. "The worst thing you can have is insurance where you think you're covered and then you get sick and it turns out you're not covered." High costs No one believes there's a single, silver-bullet solution to the problem. But Upside's Hogan said one of the largest areas to tackle is bending not just the premium cost itself, but the underlying medical cost curve. "The costs just have been insane," he said, of consistently rising medical expenses. "There hasn't been much of a focus on value-based health care. We still are predominantly fee-for-service or volume-oriented rather than outcome and quality-focused." The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that Connecticut ranks ninth in the nation for per capita healthcare spending at $12,489 per person, with the U.S. average at $10,191. The state ranks 12th on premiums for employer-based insurance at an average of $7,717, against a national average of $7,380. Spending per payer on private insurance in the state has grown faster than for Medicaid or Medicare. At a recent forum convened by the Connecticut Insurance Department, the Connecticut Hospital Association outlined the continuing effects of the pandemic on care costs, saying patients arriving at the hospital are sicker, which in turn makes hospital stays longer. Supply chain issues — though not as acute now as in 2020 — persist and have driven up costs. Meanwhile attrition in the work- force has forced hospitals to turn to more expensive staffing agencies to fulfill their needs. Political solutions These realities, along with ConnectiCare's withdrawal, certainly increase the pressure on legisla- tors in the upcoming session to find answers. Lesser admits the small group market is now "fundamentally broken," and said, among other things, he sees lawmakers continuing to drive efforts to set annual healthcare spending benchmarks that began this past legislative session. "I am particularly concerned about hospital consolidation and phar- maceutical prices as major drivers of healthcare increases across the entire spectrum," said Lesser. But his first priority solution for small businesses? "I think the reason you've heard calls for a number of years for a public option is not because of some sort of ideological necessity. I think it's because we're seeing a real market failure," he said. The public option — in Connecticut that has meant legislative efforts in recent years to adopt a state-spon- sored health plan for small busi- nesses and nonprofits — has been stoutly opposed by the insurance industry, legislative Republicans and the CBIA. "The public option is a compe- tition to undermine, disrupt, and ultimately eliminate the healthcare insurance industry," said Senate Minority Leader Kevin Kelly (R-Strat- ford). "In Connecticut we like to fashion ourselves as the insurance capital of the world, and that industry employs somewhere in the neighborhood of (40,000) to 50,000 jobs and families. So when you talk about the public option, you can't ignore that." Lesser said there's currently no new public option bill drafted for the next legislative session, which begins Jan. 4. Kelly said an alternative way to try to tackle premium costs would be a state reinsurance plan — essentially replacing the Obamacare subsidy that has been chipped away at the federal level. "Under the Affordable Care Act, when the federal government paid reinsurance subsidies, premiums were stable and declining," he said. "So what we proposed was a state- based reinsurance program. The exchange had it evaluated twice and in both instances it demonstrated that this was a real achievable plan that would reduce premiums by up to 30%." But if past experience is a guide, he's not hopeful about its chances. "I can't get that bill out of committee," he said. In a recent interview, Gov. Ned Lamont said he remains lukewarm about the state taking on the finan- cial risks of offering a public insur- ance option to small businesses. But he also said the onus is on private insurers to come up with better solutions. "I need the insurance companies to step up and help me with that small business market," Lamont said. "We're creating a preferred network for our state employees where they go places where you get the most value, which is quality as well as cost, and I'd love to see the small business market do the same thing." Sen. Kevin Kelly Sen. Matt Lesser

• Cover