UConn officials: Governor's stance on hospital merger a mistake

Eight days after Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell said the state could not afford plans for a merger of the UConn Health Center and Hartford Hospital, University of Connecticut officials fired back, questioning the analysis Rell relied on and saying that the state cannot afford to pass up the proposal. The proposal, which UConn leaders said would save the financially troubled Health Center, calls for building a $475 million hospital to replace the aging John Dempsey Hospital. The plan is projected to cost the state $605 million over the next 10 years.