2018 Year in Review
Serving as the State Representative for Guilford and Branford is the honor of my life and, as always, I wanted to share a few highlights of what I was up to this year in my annual Year in Review. Thanks for reading!
Writing and passing Connecticut’s first drug price transparency law
By far the thing I’m most proud of this year was writing and passing Connecticut’s very first prescription drug price transparency law. Alongside State Comptroller Kevin Lembo, we stood up to powerful special interests to pass one of the nation’s toughest laws that holds drug companies accountable by:
- Requiring drug companies to justify price increases when the price of a drug jumps by 20 percent in one year or by 50 percent over three years.
- Requiring pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) — the middlemen between drug companies and insurers — to disclose rebates they received from drug companies and the amount of rebate they passed onto consumers versus the amount they retained. Connecticut would become the first state in the country to require this.
- Requiring insurers to include information on the top 25 highest cost drugs, top 25 with greatest increases and the portion of premium that increased because of drug spending on plan when they file their rates with the state Insurance Department.
All of this information will help us understand what is driving the high cost of drugs and identify bad actors who are raising drug prices for unjustifiable reasons. In 2019, I plan to continue the fight to lower your drug costs with new pieces of legislation. Stay tuned!
Stopping a big cut to Shore Line East
On a cold day in late January, DOT announced they were cutting all off-peak and weekend service on Shore Line East. The next day, I assembled a bi-partisan group of elected officials from the shoreline to denounce this plan and call on DOT and Governor Malloy to reverse this decision which they did by spring. We still have a lot of work to do to improve Shore Line East service but I was proud to lead the charge to maintain service.
Protecting “Essential Health Benefits”
As chair of the Insurance Committee, I feel like it’s my job to protect consumers when it comes to their health care and health insurance. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, all insurance policies must include coverage of the ten “Essential Health Benefits.”
These include cover for the following:
- Ambulatory patient services (outpatient services)
- Emergency services
- Hospitalization
- Maternity and newborn care
- Mental health and substance use disorder services, including behavioral health treatment
- Prescription drugs
- Rehabilitative and habilitative services (those that help patients acquire, maintain, or improve skills necessary for daily functioning) and devices
- Laboratory services
- Preventive and wellness services and chronic disease management
- Pediatric services, including oral and vision care
Unfortunately, these benefits — and the entire Affordable Care Act — are under constant assault in Washington by the Trump administration. So this year, I worked with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to write these ten benefits into Connecticut law so that regardless of whether the ACA gets repealed, these services will still be covered by your insurance plan in Connecticut.
Standing up for common sense gun safety
In March I was so proud to speak to a crowd of thousands gathered on the Guilford Green for the “March for Change” to call for passage of common sense gun safety legislation like background checks at the federal level. As someone who grew up here, it was such an inspiring day to see so many people come out in support of something that should be simple but isn’t only because of politics and special interests.
This rally came weeks after Guilford suffered an unspeakable tragedy with the loss of Ethan Song. Last month, I joined Ethan’s parents Kristin and Mike to announce “Ethan’s Law” — a bill I’m introducing on behalf of the Song family in January that would close the loophole which prevented prosecutors from prosecuting the owner of the gun that killed Ethan for improperly storing it.
The Big Sleep Out
From speaking on the Guilford Green to sleeping on it! In April, my wife Meghan and I slept on the Green overnight to support GHS sophomore Ella Stanley’s effort to raise awareness and funds for homelessness. It was a cold and rainy night but was a really eye-opening experience for me to the realities many people in our state face.
Progress on opioids
Since taking office in 2015, I’ve made combating our state’s opioid epidemic my top priority. In addition to hosting bi-annual Drug Take Back Days with Guilford Police and Guilford Day, I am proud to haven written and passed legislation on this topic in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
This year we got good news on two fronts.
In 2016, my law made Connecticut the second state in the nation to limit prescriptions to a seven day supply for acute pain. This was in response to experts telling me the number one cause of the epidemic was the sheer volume of expired and unused prescriptions floating out there in society that were then falling into the wrong hands. We recently learned that in 2017 — the first year this law was in place — opioid prescriptions fell by 14%.
The second piece of good news is that, according to the Chief Medical Examiner’s office, 2018 is expected to be the first year since 2012 where overdose deaths will remain level instead of increasing.
We are not out of the woods yet and still have a lot of work to do but I’m encouraged that the policies we have put in place since 2015 finally seem to be slowing down the pace of the epidemic.
Coming soon: a new middle school in Branford
I was proud to work really hard with Rep. Lonnie Reed and Sen. Ted Kennedy (both of whom I will miss very much!) to secure $30 million in state funding to help with the cost of the new Walsh Intermediate School in Branford. I had a lot of fun with the students at the June ribbon cutting and the shovel is now proudly displayed in my office!
The award for my favorite picture of the year goes to….
In August, things got pretty heated between me, Meghan, First Selectman Matt Hoey and State Senator-elect Christine Cohen on the squirt gun race at the St. George Church carnival!
Starting a podcast
In September I launched my podcast called “What’s Up With _____?” where each episode I try and take listeners behind the scenes on controversial issues and try and figure out what’s really going on with the help of guests.
Check out episode one on the DMV here or episode two on fake news here and stay tuned for new episodes soon!
Honoring our veterans
For the second year, I challenged Branford and Guilford middle school students to enter my Veterans Day Essay Contest. As was the case in 2017, I was super inspired to read all the incredible things our young people have to say about why we should thank veterans and to watch the winners read their essays at each town’s ceremony.
A big thank you
Even though I ran unopposed this year, I am still deeply grateful for the support the community gave me on Election Day and to have the chance to do this job I love for another two years.
I look forward to getting back to work when the legislative session begins on January 9th and, as always, I hope you will always feel free to reach out to me via email at sean.scanlon@cga.ct.gov or by phone at 860–240–0516 if I can help you or if you want to share your thoughts/concerns/ideas with me.
Until then, happy holidays and Happy New Year!
