"THE CHAIR:

Senator Crisco, do you accept the yield?

SEN. CRISCO:

Thank you, Mr. President. I do. And I want to commend my colleagues, Senator Handley, Senator Harris, and Senator Harp. Obviously, they are the Three Musketeers, and I'm Dartanian.

But, Mr. President, this really is a historical time for this great Circle, and I really want to express my appreciation, like my colleague, Senator Williams, for his leadership.

We have kind of a kidding thing in our caucus, and we're very thankful for a phone booth we have in the corner. And our President of the Senate goes into that phone booth and comes out our superhero.

And as that superhero, he has provided the leadership that is so, so dearly needed. Connecticut is the only New England state that does not have a plan. And I'm very proud that, while our plan does not resolve 100% of the issue, as I'll mention later, it does resolve a great part of it.

And we proceed with our plan, and not with reckless abandon, not with fiscal, you know, mismanagement, but really a well-thought-out plan is how do we develop a base?

And as any legislation that comes before us, I believe that we owe a great deal of debt to the advocates who are seated in the gallery, who have done so much to join us in trying to accomplish this so important goal.

It's a very, very crucial part of our system. The four parts I want to speak of, the four ingredients, it's fascinating that there agreements that we're building upon.

And as we go forward, I hope that we can remember that we can build on a lot of existing programs to eventually get to our ultimate goal. There are times, Mr. President, when we forget that, when we forget what we have in place.

For example, one of our sections builds upon the insurance coverage for dependents. We increased the age to 26. As you know, coverage stops at an age of 19, unless you're in college, and then it continues for another 4 years.

Now this is a very important population of our uninsured. These young people, who may not have coverage, obviously feel invulnerable to any type of sickness and illness.

And they don't have an interest, sometimes, in acquiring insurance. But what we're doing by allowing these families to continue the coverage for the dependents, I believe it adds a significant amount of coverage for a very important population.

I spoke earlier about building upon what we have. Few people wear that back in the '60s. Connecticut was a leader in reinsurance, and there was created the Health Reinsurance Association. And now, under the directorship of Carl Eidemann.

And basically, the HRA was utilized to take care of special risk. And then later on, they created a program for small businesses. But for various reasons, in the '90s, that coverage for small employers would sunset.

What we are doing now is adding back the ability of the HRA to cover small employers, particularly with low-earning employees. And we're increasing the level to 300% of the federal poverty level, which, I think, will, again, contribute to our population of uninsured.

We have to remember that our objective was how do we achieve the goal of making sure that everybody in Connecticut has insurance.

And that may not be 100% possible, but we may be able to achieve 90%, 97%, and I have personally no problem with eventually maybe [inaudible] single-payer system or universal healthcare. There might be hybrids of programs out there that we can utilize.

And I hope, as we go forward in this Circle, in the House, and with the advocates, trying to achieve that ultimate goal of finding a perfect solution.

In addition, Mr. President, there is also a website to provide consumers with information similar to the insurance department's worksite, which informs consumers of different healthcare plans. It also, we provide an employer's tax premium deduction for pre-tax to, again, help the employers.

And I personally believe, after my interest for several years now, that we could probably penetrate over 200,000 uninsured of that 400,000. I'm hoping that it is more.

So, Mr. President, it is with great pride that I join, you know, my colleagues, not only in our caucus but also on the other side of the aisle, not only in the Senate but also in the House, not only this General Assembly but also with the advocates, to continue to achieve what we hope will be the great solution.

And I'd just like to close, Mr. President, with a quote from Emerson, who states, do not go where the path may lead. Instead, go where there is no path, and leave a trail.

From the debate on a bill to allow children of immigrants who attend Connecticut high schools for four years and then graduate to pay in-state tuition at public colleges and universities - transcript of the Connecticut Senate - June 1, 2007:

SEN. CRISCO:

Thank you, Mr. President. Very brief, basically, we all realize that we serve in this capacity to make life easier for the people of Connecticut. And I believe this is an opportunity where we can fulfill that objective.

But more importantly and very simply, there are times when individuals and groups need a helping hand and a lift up, and I think this is one of those opportunities. Thank you, Mr. President.