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.
HUSKY
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.
Posted inHealth
A lot at stake for Connecticut as Trump, GOP eye Medicaid changes
Medicaid is Connecticut’s largest source of federal funding and the largest single line item in the state budget. It covers close to one in five state residents – more than 750,000 poor children, adults and people with disabilities. A major change in federal Medicaid funding is a big worry for the state’s budget director.
Posted inHealth, Money
CT to assist 18,000 parents losing state Medicaid coverage
Leaders of the Connecticut’s health insurance exchange announced Thursday that they would work in partnership with three other state agencies to assist up to 18,000 low-income parents who would lose their state-sponsored Medicaid health coverage on Aug.1 because of budget cuts.
Posted inHealth
Critics: Proposed children’s dental cut threatens CT’s turnaround
Connecticut leads the nation in the percentage of kids covered by Medicaid who go to the dentist – a dramatic change from a decade earlier, when the state ranked near the bottom, according to a national report. But dentists and advocates who have studied the changes say that progress could be set back under a proposal by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to cut the Medicaid payment rates for children’s dental care by 10 percent.
Posted inHealth
Five stories that can make 2016 a big year in health care
“I haven’t seen a time in my almost 10 years here in the state where there’s so much happening in health care,” says state Healthcare Advocate Victoria Veltri. Here are five health care stories to watch in 2016.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Happy birthday, Medicaid, and CT’s HUSKY
Happy birthday, Medicaid! Our kids and our state have a lot to celebrate: a state-federal health coverage program that helps needy youngsters, promotes familial economic stability, and reduces industry costs. As citizens, we can all celebrate 50 years of a program that binds us together, channels our shared civic responsibility, and invests in our state’s most valuable and precious resource, our children.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Despite reservations, CT senators join in approving ‘doc fix’ bill
WASHINGTON — While they had reservations about some provisions of the bill, Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy joined an overwhelming majority in the U.S. Senate to approve a bill preventing a 21 percent cut in Medicare fees for doctors.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Proposed cut in dental reimbursement could jeopardize children’s care
Gov. Dannel Malloy’s proposed budget charges the Connecticut Department of Social Services (DSS) with achieving $90 million in savings through a reduction in provider rates. A conservative estimate of the impact of reducing dental fees by 5.6 percent indicates that 24,000 fewer HUSKY-insured young people under 21 years of age would have access to a dental visit in each of the next two fiscal years.
Posted inNews
Newly legalized CT immigrants eligible for Social Security, Medicare, but not other benefits
WASHINGTON – Immigrants in Connecticut who receive provisional legal status under President Obama’s new executive orders will be eligible for Social Security and Medicare, but not food stamps or health care benefits provided by AccessHealthCT.
Posted inHealth
CT Medicaid enrollment at record high under Obamacare
Nearly one in five state residents is now covered by the Medicaid program, according to figures from the state Department of Social Services.
