HUSKY changes coming — Caregivers keep your coverage

Under federal Medicaid budget cuts, starting in January over 300,000 HUSKY Part D members will have to be working or qualify for an exemption. The most common reason given by Connecticut Medicaid recipients for not working is that they are caring for family.  Caregiving is an exemption to Medicaid work requirements, but many will not know they are exempt and could lose coverage.

AARP estimates that in Connecticut 60,000 people with incomes below $25,000 per year are providing critical care for family or friends. Many are likely to be eligible for and covered by HUSKY Part D and at risk of losing their healthcare coverage.

We’ve published a resource for HUSKY caregivers who are subject to federal Medicaid work requirements. HUSKYcaregivers.org includes background info on the upcoming changes, how to learn if they affect you, how to update contact info with DSS to keep coverage, the importance of the caregiver exemption, and resources to reach caregivers in your community.

Caregivers provide frail Connecticut residents with a broad range of services including housework, medical care, help managing finances, transportation, feeding, shopping, and so much more. Caregivers provide care we could never afford to replace. They need to continue to care for our state’s most fragile residents without worry about their own healthcare coverage.

One in five Connecticut caregivers struggle to care for their own health. Medicaid is critical to staying healthy for themselves and the people they care for. Almost half struggle with finances due to their caregiving responsibilities and couldn’t afford health insurance if they lose HUSKY.

To keep HUSKY, Connecticut caregivers will have to document their exemption with the state. The system to document exemptions has not been finalized. There is no data source to help the state find caregivers in Connecticut. It’s critical that all of us let caregivers, healthcare providers, and communities know about this exemption.

HUSKYcaregivers.org includes a flyer, fact sheet (for sharing online or for printing), detailed talking points, where to track state planning for HR-1, and a flowchart to determine if you qualify for the caregiver exemption to work requirements. Coming soon — Spanish translations, info on accessing care if you become uninsured, our calendar of outreach events and slides, and anything else we think could be useful.

Many thanks to Tisa Biswas, Alannah Doheny, and Emily Martinez-Clark for essential contributions to the project.

Let us know if we missed a resource or you have an outreach event for us to join at andrews@cthealthpolicy.org.