The state’s Medicaid program is going through a number of changes. One of the simpler ones involves its name.

Currently, the majority of Medicaid clients are part of the HUSKY health program, which covers low-income children and their parents or guardians. HUSKY also covers children and teens whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, part of the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program.

The state also runs two other Medicaid programs. One serves seniors and people with disabilities, and is known as aged, blind or disabled. The other is for low-income adults who don’t have minor children. Both programs are getting a name change, and will also be known as HUSKY.

Wondering how to tell the four programs apart? Each will have a different letter assigned to it, as follows:

HUSKY A – Low-income children and their parents

HUSKY B – Children’s Health Insurance Program

HUSKY C – Aged, blind or disabled

HUSKY D – Low-income adults

Arielle Levin Becker covered health care for The Connecticut Mirror. She previously worked for The Hartford Courant, most recently as its health reporter, and has also covered small towns, courts and education in Connecticut and New Jersey. She was a finalist in 2009 for the prestigious Livingston Award for Young Journalists, a recipient of a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship and the third-place winner in 2013 for an in-depth piece on caregivers from the National Association of Health Journalists. She is a 2004 graduate of Yale University.

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