Despite early enthusiasm, lawmakers now say a bill extending state-sponsored health coverage to about 18,000 undocumented children is unlikely to succeed this year.
HUSKY
Posted inHealth
Undocumented families, advocates press for expansion of state-funded health care
Children like Emily Batista, an 11-year-old with cerebral palsy from Brazil, would have access to state-funded health insurance under the proposal.
Posted inHealth
Uninsured rate rises in the nation, ACA enrollment drops in CT
New polling from Gallup shows that the percentage of uninsured Americans inched up last year, but there’s no evidence yet that Connecticut is following that national trend.
Posted inHealth
HHS says Affordable Care Act here to stay – for now
WASHINGTON – If upheld, a Texas court decision striking down the Affordable Care Act would likely strip thousands of Connecticut residents of HUSKY coverage, eliminate assistance with premium payments and other out-of-pocket expenses for thousands more, and remove adult children from their parents’ insurance policies. But the Texas court decision faces strong legal challenges, which could take more than a year to play out.
Posted inHealth
Lawmakers, Malloy administration wrangle over telemedicine
WASHINGTON – Connecticut’s congressional delegation is at odds with the Malloy administration over its failure to apply for an expansion of the HUSKY program that would give low-income residents access to new telemedicine services, especially for psychiatric care and substance abuse treatment.
Posted inHealth
Community Conversations: A need for more health care and health care reform
During this election season, the CT Mirror convened groups of people from around the state to ask their opinions on key campaign issues and their perceptions of the appropriate role of government. A common theme emerged: health care — the cost, the disparities and the need for change.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
In a state of great wealth, all the health care some can afford
While the overall health care system in one of the nation’s wealthiest states ranks high, hundreds of thousands of low- and middle-income residents are struggling to afford coverage or seeing their earnings gobbled up by a system with outcomes as disparate as income is in Connecticut.
Posted inMoney
Aiming for bipartisan deal, Dems add funds for seniors, towns
Trying to avoid a repeat of last year when conservative Democrats defected to support a Republican state budget, Democratic legislative leaders unveiled several proposals Monday aimed at striking a bipartisan compromise. The plan restores funds for municipal aid and for a medication assistance program for seniors and the disabled.
Posted inHealth, Money
Malloy says he won’t impose work requirements on Medicaid
WASHINGTON — Connecticut will not impose a work requirement on Connecticut Medicaid recipients, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said, even as the Trump administration moved Thursday to allow states to do so. “The fact remains that the majority of individuals on Medicaid are working people, or those that cannot work, such as seniors and people with disabilities,” Malloy said.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Congress to miss deadline to renew CT children’s health program
WASHINGTON — Congress will miss a Saturday deadline to renew a program that provides 17,000 Connecticut children with health care coverage, but, in its latest accounting, the state’s Department of Social Services says it has enough money to continue the program into next year.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Even with Obamacare’s survival, a shakeup in CT healthcare system threatens
WASHINGTON – Even though the U.S. Senate failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, some Connecticut residents might lose subsidies that would help pay their premiums while others could see sizable increases in their premiums or a smaller choice of plans.
Posted inHealth, Politics
CT Dems slam Senate health bill that endangers state’s Medicaid expansion
WASHINGTON — Connecticut’s senators blasted the GOP plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, but will sit on the sidelines as their divided Republican colleagues try to hash out final details of a “discussion draft” released Thursday. The bill would continue some Obamacare subsidies to help people buy insurance, but could eventually force Connecticut to cut Medicaid coverage for many.
Posted inHealth
Malloy: GOP’s plans to replace ACA ‘a moving disaster’
WASHINGTON — Gov. Dannel Malloy on Sunday said a GOP plan to replace and repeal the Affordable Care Act is a “moving disaster” that could force governors to dramatically shrink the number of Medicaid patients in their states just so the federal government could “pay for a tax cut for the wealthy.”
Posted inHealth, Money
How health care and Medicaid fare in Malloy’s budget
About 9,500 parents would lose Medicaid, fewer seniors would receive home care, mental health and substance abuse treatment providers would receive millions of dollars less from the state, and school-based health centers would see a 10 percent funding cut under the budget plan Gov. Dannel P. Malloy proposed Wednesday.
Posted inHealth, Money
39 percent of parents affected by HUSKY cut still in program
Four months after a major change in Medicaid eligibility for poor parents, 39 percent of those initially expected to lose Medicaid coverage are still in the program and 16 percent have coverage through the state’s health insurance exchange. The health care coverage status of another 42 percent is unknown.