Hartford Business Journal

36 Hartford Business Journal • September 14, 2015 www.HartfordBusiness.com OPINION & COMMENTARY EDITORIAL Hartford mayor's to-do list T his week's primary will likely determine Hartford's next mayor, but before the bal- lots are cast we've already established a to-do list for the Capital City's next CEO. Hartford Business Journal has traditionally not endorsed candidates and we're sticking to our knitting once again this year. However, we understand the significance this year's mayoral race will have on Hartford's future, so we want to implore the next mayor to focus on the following issues: Crime — Budget, taxes and economic development are typically the business com- munity's top three priorities, but without civil peace they're irrelevant. Business can't flourish if employees and customers don't feel safe visiting the city. The wave of violence that has erupted this summer — 25 homicides reported through Sept. 10, the most of any New England city — must be quelled. We need new thinking around our policing strategy and, more importantly, greater job opportunities for city residents so more of Hartford's impoverished population can become productive citizens. Budget/Economic Development — City finances remain a big problem, and Hart- ford is likely to face more budget deficits in the years ahead. And with fewer options available to raise new money — the city has already been selling off assets in recent years to raise one-time revenues — the only alternative will be to make massive spend- ing cuts — something unlikely in a democratic city — or raise the state's already highest municipal property tax rate. What Hartford needs is a grand plan to grow its tax base, not just downtown but in the surrounding neighborhoods as well. Taxes — Hartford's 74.29 mill rate for commercial property owners is by far the highest property tax rate in the state. If the city doesn't slowly reduce that rate it will continue to hold back Hartford's progress. Hartford is the only Connecticut municipality that assesses commercial property owners a higher tax rate than residential owners. With a mill rate over 70 there is little incentive to invest in Hartford without some sort of govern- ment subsidy or tax break. We urge the next mayor to seriously consider recommenda- tions made last year by a city taskforce, which proposed gradually boosting the residential assessment ratio over 20-plus years so homeowners and businesses pay a more equal share of taxes. Transportation — Although city gov- ernment has limited control over major transportation projects like CTfastrak and high-speed rail, the mayor must offer up a vision for developing a 21st century trans- portation system in the city. Most impor- tantly, the mayor must represent the city's businesses and residents in the ongoing debate about what to do with the aging I-84 viaduct. State Department of Transportation officials are considering various ways to replace the highway system, which will have major ramifications on people's ability to get in and out of the city for decades to come. The mayor must staunchly support and lobby for the plan that will do the least short-term harm and most long-term good for Hartford residents and businesses. Education — The education gap that persists between city and suburban students isn't just a moral issue — it's an economic one. Connecticut's population is aging and the state already has a hard enough time attracting young talent. We can't afford to have scores of inner-city students receiving lax education that leaves them unprepared for the workforce. A strategy that boosts graduation and college enrollment rates won't only reduce crime and improve quality of life; it will provide a boost to the economy as companies find a more expansive talent base to recruit from. n OTHER VOICES Health literacy and why it matters By Eric H. Schultz S ometimes it's the little things that make the most difference. In health care, where costs are soaring and overtaking a greater share of the gross national product each year, maybe it's time we begin to take a look at simple remedies as well complex ones. Consider, for instance, that the Institute of Medicine estimates that up to 40 percent of adults in the United States have limited health literacy and that this statistic increases U.S. healthcare costs by as much as $73 billion a year. Maybe this is some- thing we should pay attention to. Health literacy is the degree to which an individual has the capacity to obtain, process, understand and communicate health informa- tion in order to make appropriate healthcare decisions. It has been shown that adults with low health literacy fail to seek preventive care, have fewer doctor visits — but use sig- nificantly more hospital resources — remain hospitalized nearly two days longer than aver- age, are less likely to follow treatment plans and self-care recommendations, and make more medication and treatment errors. Those in fair or poor health tend to have the lowest health literacy. We also know that low health literacy con- tributes to racial and ethnic disparities in care, and, we know that there is a clear relationship between health literacy and age. More than half of Gen Y members exhibit lower health literacy than those of Medicare age. In 2013, Harvard Pilgrim launched a health literacy initiative to address educational and linguistic disparities. It includes development of a corporate health literacy policy, verbal health literacy skills training for our customer service staff and mandatory training in health literacy for all of our employees. Training in plain language writing skills is also part of this effort. By the end of 2013, over 90 percent of our staff had completed mandatory health literacy awareness training. An example of one of our initiatives was the creation of an easily understood monthly com- munication and quiz for members with high blood pressure reminding them of steps — like exercise, limiting salt and taking medicine as prescribed — to get their blood pressure under control. It hit the mark, enabling us to reduce an educational disparity gap in the percentage of members with hypertension whose blood pressure was under control from more than 15 percentage points to less than 2 percentage points. This means that those members with lower educational levels were able to achieve results closer to those with higher educations. We also found that outreach to improve colorectal cancer screening rates using post- card reminders in plain language has again contributed to another reduction in educa- tional disparities, reducing the gap between higher- and lower-educated individuals from 10 percentage points to 4 percentage points. Since implementing our health literacy ini- tiative, use of postcard reminders and secure email messages focus on brevity, clarity and visual presentation. We also have a health literacy Member Learning Center that helps members with difficult to understand health insurance terminology and function, such as the meaning of deductibles and how they work, how to choose a health plan, and how to find and access primary care providers. Healthcare literacy has to have a special place in the work of all health insurers if we are to expand our capacity to provide equally excellent care and services to our members of all backgrounds. n Eric H. Schultz is the president and CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM POLL Has CTfastrak been a worthy investment? ● Yes ● No To vote, go online to HartfordBusiness.com. Last week's poll results: Can Greater Hartford financially sup- port two minor league baseball teams? 30% Yes 70% No LETTER TO THE EDITOR Unitary reporting tax good policy To the Editor: There's been a lot of comment lately about Connecti- cut's decision to adopt unitary reporting for corporate business taxes. That includes the Hartford Business Journal's Aug. 31 editorial "State should repeal unitary reporting tax." After a long litany of otherwise fair com- ments about state business taxes and the importance of keeping GE in Connecticut if the company truly wants to stay, the editorial then makes an erroneous case for repealing unitary taxation that goes into effect next year. GE is a good Connecticut company and taxpayer. At DRS, we join Governor Malloy's efforts to keep GE in Connecticut. GE may have many good reasons for questioning state spending and some of the recent tax changes, but the unitary tax is not one of them. In- deed, to the extent that GE has concerns, my agency has already reached out to engage them and others in planning implementation of the new law so that it works for Connecticut. A unitary approach to corporate taxation does not dis- favor Connecticut companies. The unitary tax does not disfavor companies doing business in other states or internationally. In fact, it favors Connecticut-based com- panies, which is why most already exercise the available election under state law to report business income this way. That's also why unitary reporting is the prevailing approach among the states — including New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. More important, unitary reporting creates a level play- ing-field. Corporations (especially non-Connecticut based multi-jurisdictional businesses) will be far more restricted from engaging in aggressive "tax planning" and structuring that allocates income from doing business in Connecticut to anywhere but Connecticut simply in order to gain the least taxation possible. Now, let's stop confusing the issue and get back to seeing what we can do to help GE and other Connect- icut-based businesses. Kevin B. Sullivan Commissioner of Revenue Services ▶ ▶ A strategy that boosts graduation and college enrollment rates won't only reduce crime and improve quality of life; it will provide a boost to the economy as companies find a more expansive talent base to recruit from. Eric H. Schultz

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