FAIRFIELD COUNTY
BUSINESS JOURNAL
YOUR only SOURCE FOR regional BUSINESS NEWS | westfaironline.com
November 26, 2012 | VOL. 48, No. 48
Anxiety builds over costs as health reforms progress
State projects $365 million shortfall
BY PATRICK GALLAGHER
Official says budget cuts are likely, pledging no new taxes
pgallagher@westfairinc.com
The Obama administration took a major step toward the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with the release of a series of proposed rules outlining essential health benefits, market reforms and wellness programs Nov. 20. Even prior to the release, health care industry representatives from across the state indicated in conversations with the Business Journal that President Obama’s crowning achievement does not nearly Anxiety, page 2
FCBJ TODAY
BY JENNIFER BISSELL
jbissell@westfairinc.com
P Growth platform
Unemployment in Connecticut rose back to 9 percent in October … 3 Layoffs are on tap at Xerox as the company restructures its services unit … 8 Family-owned businesses are more optimistic, CBIA survey shows … 9 Financial industry stalwarts open advisory firm in Stamford ... 11 Also … Going for broke? State economic development policy under the magnifying glass ... 4
MEDIA PARTNER
The WorkPlace Inc. CEO Joseph Carbone
The WorkPlace program to ease long-term unemployment goes national BY PATRICK GALLAGHER
pgallagher@westfairinc.com
At its roots, the Platform to Employment program was meant to be a research endeavor — a social enterprise, as The WorkPlace Inc. CEO Joseph Carbone calls it. The goal, Carbone said, has been to prove to private corporations that the
long-term unemployed — including tens of thousands of Connecticut residents who have been out of work for more than two years — are still employable. With nearly two-thirds of the 100 initial participants in the Platform to Employment (P2E) program now in full-time positions, The WorkPlace has secured $1.85 million in funding and Growth, page 6
7
First annual CFO awards
lagued by higher-than-projected Medicaid costs, Connecticut officials now say the state is on pace to end its 2013 fiscal year with a $365 million budget deficit, according to a Nov. 15 report. The new report comes in stark contrast to a Nov. 1 estimate by state Comptroller Kevin Lembo that Connecticut’s government was facing a $60 million deficit for its current fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2013. With additional data now available relating to the expansion of the state’s Medicaid program, the Office of Policy Management (OPM) and the legislature’s Office of Fiscal Analysis are predicting a $260 million shortfall for the Medicaid portion of the budget. The projected deficit has been attributed in part to a sharp increase in enrollment in the state’s Medicaid for LowIncome Adults – or Husky D – program. In 2010, Connecticut became the first state in the country to receive federal approval to expand its Medicaid program to low-income adults under a proviState, page 6
15 Fiscal cliff
draws nearer