The state violated federal law when it increased the premiums for many of those receiving the state’s Husky B health insurance plan, the state Department of Social Services has announced.
The state is required by the Affordable Care Act to maintain current premium levels; it is now in the process of reimbursing clients who paid the increased rates.
Enrollment numbers indicate the increased premiums did not impact the number of people who dropped their Husky B insurance for nonpayment. In March, 210 people were dropped for nonpayment. The last full month before the rates were increased by $8 to $10 a month, more than twice as many people were dropped for nonpayment. Enrollment has increased overall by 3.3 percent.
“Cost-sharing changes do not seem to have directly impacted enrollment,” an email from DSS to health care providers notifying them of the change reads.
Jacqueline was CT Mirror’s Education and Housing Reporter, and an original member of the CT Mirror staff, joining shortly before our January 2010 launch. Her awards include the best-of-show Theodore A. Driscoll Investigative Award from the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists in 2019 for reporting on inadequate inmate health care, first-place for investigative reporting from the New England Newspaper and Press Association in 2020 for reporting on housing segregation, and two first-place awards from the National Education Writers Association in 2012. She was selected for a prestigious, year-long Propublica Local Reporting Network grant in 2019, exploring a range of affordable and low-income housing issues. Before joining CT Mirror, Jacqueline was a reporter, online editor and website developer for The Washington Post Co.’s Maryland newspaper chains. Jacqueline received an undergraduate degree in journalism from Bowling Green State University and a master’s in public policy from Trinity College.
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