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{ Health Care Briefs } With Obamacare at risk in CT, 73K could lose subsidies Connecticut is among several states in danger of losing all the insurers who participate in their Affordable Care Act exchanges — a move that would leave tens of thousands of state residents scrambling for coverage and ways to pay for it. Connecticut consumers once had a choice of four carriers on the Access Health CT exchange, but Anthem and ConnectiCare are the only ones le. Neither has committed to staying beyond the end of this year. If one insurer leaves the exchange, there will be a lot less choice of policies for consumers. If both leave the exchange, subsidies to help pay premiums will end for nearly 73,000 Connecticut residents. Nearly 48,000 of those exchange customers also will lose federal help paying out-of-pocket costs like deductibles and co-payments. Under the ACA, only policies sold on the exchange can be subsidized. – Ana Radelat \\ CT Mirror Hartford region slips to No. 13 on national fit list e Hartford region ranks 13th in a 2017 nationwide fitness index from the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation, down four spots from 2016 and the region's worst showing since it began getting ranked in 2009. e 10th annual American Fitness Index is a scientific snapshot of the health and fitness status at a metropolitan level using data made up of personal health, community and environmental indicators. Overall, the Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford region scored 60.5 out of 100 possible points in the index. Its personal health rank was 13, with a score of 64.5 and its community rank was 25, with a score of 55. Factors measured in the community ranking include availability of recreational facilities, park-related expenditures per resident, physical education in schools, and numbers of commuters walking or cycling. Personal health indicators include measurements of chronic health problems and health behaviors such as diet and exercise. Report: Some private wells in CT test high for arsenic, uranium A report recently published by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH), revealed that water from some private wells across the state has registered high levels of arsenic and uranium, according to DPH. DPH and local health officials collected and analyzed water samples from 674 private wells in Connecticut and found 7 percent of the samples tested for arsenic or uranium at levels higher than maximum contaminant levels, which are regulated in public water supplies and newly constructed private wells under Connecticut law, DPH said. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists then compared the water sample collection sites to geologic information in those areas. While high levels of arsenic and uranium Continued on next page R E N D E R I N G \ \ D A V I S S T O K E S C O L L A B O R AT I V E P. C . Bristol Hospital offers glimpse of proposed ambulatory center A centrally located plot of land in downtown Bristol that has been vacant since a former mall was demolished there nearly a decade ago could look much different by 2019. Bristol Hospital recently released renderings of a proposed 60,000-square-foot ambulatory center that would house specialty practices, lab space, therapy services and a ground-floor cafe. e hospital has partnered with Florida-based Rendina Healthcare Real Estate, which will build and own the three-story building. e hospital would lease the building from Rendina. City officials signed a purchase and sale agreement with Bristol Hospital recently for the land — a 4-plus-acre portion of Centre Square, formerly known as Depot Square. Bristol Hospital hopes to break ground later this year and complete the building by 2019. A rendering of Bristol Hospital's proposed ambulatory center in Bristol, which could break ground later this year. GREATER HARTFORD HEALTH • Summer 2017 5