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.
Medicaid
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 inPolitics
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. Third in a series.
Posted inHealth
CT sees sharp decline in uninsured low-income adults in rural areas
Connecticut saw one of the biggest drops in the uninsured rate among low-income adults living in rural areas and small towns compared to other states, according to a national study released this week. The uninsured rate in the state’s sole non-metro county, Litchfield, fell from 32 percent in 2008-09 to 9 percent in 2015-16.
Posted inHealth
Medicaid transportation contractor improving, but complaints continue
Veyo has made some marked improvements in recent months, but the company hired to oversee the transportation of Medicaid patients continues to be criticized for its performance and has been fined several times by the state for contract violations.
Posted inHealth
Advocates: DSS call center wait times must be fixed
A group of Medicaid enrollees, providers and advocates demanded Thursday that the state Department of Social Services address the long wait times and dropped calls at its five-year-old call center.
Posted inHealth
New budgets fail to restore Medicaid cuts to thousands in CT
For Sally Grossman, success in business is likely to come at a cost – the loss of her health care coverage. Grossman is enrolled in a Medicaid program known as HUSKY A, whose eligibility has been tightened by Connecticut lawmakers looking to save money in the state budget.
Posted inHealth
CT lawmakers ask Malloy to help shore up Obamacare
WASHINGTON — With little hope of shoring up the Affordable Care Act in Washington, congressional Democrats, including the members of Connecticut’s delegation to the U.S. House, are asking governors and state legislatures to help. But Connecticut may be limited in what it will do to strengthen Obamacare or shield it from attempts to gut it.
Posted inHealth
To avert a strike, House boosts money for care of the disabled
The House Wednesday passed a bill aimed at heading off a strike scheduled for Monday by about 2,500 union members who take care of the disabled. The employees work for private agencies in group homes and day programs that receive state Medicaid funding. The bill now goes to the Senate.
Posted inPolitics
New GOP and Dem budgets would still cut Medicare Savings Program
While Democrats and Republicans both want to blunt the looming roll-back of a program that helps disabled and low-income elderly in Connecticut pay for medical care, their plans will still cut off tens of thousands who’ve come to rely on it.
Posted inHealth
Home-care contract wins bipartisan support ahead of vote
A bipartisan coalition of Connecticut lawmakers and the governor voiced support Tuesday for a proposed contract that will raise wages, provide workers’ compensation and increase training programs for about 8,500 home-care workers. The House and Senate are scheduled to vote on the contract Wednesday.
Posted inHealth
CT bill would require that certain Medicaid enrollees work
A number of legislative Republicans are advocating a bill aimed at imposing work requirements for some Medicaid recipients while also doing away with exemptions from work requirements now allowed to some food stamp recipients in Connecticut.
Posted inHealth
Call-wait times for medical transport better but complaints persist
After having experienced some hours-long wait times, Medicaid patients haven’t had to wait longer than 15 minutes for someone to pick up the phone when calling about medical transportation in the last two weeks, according to Josh Komenda, president of Veyo, the state’s new non-emergency medical transportation contractor. But that figure was immediately challenged.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
Congress funds children’s health program, but not health centers
Coverage of children who depended on HUSKY B lurched from month to month before Congress approved the continuing resolution that ended the shutdown. But there was no funding for community health centers, which serve many HUSKY B children and Medicaid recipients.
Posted inEducation, Health, News
West Hartford teenager hopes to bring dental exams to schools
One teenager from West Hartford hopes to help more school-aged kids receive dental exams during these uncertain times. Months ago, Marwa Abdinoor, 17, decided to study the relationship between socioeconomic status and oral health for her senior research project. As part of her project, Abdinoor plans to offer free dental exams at at least two public schools in Hartford.