HUSKY - CT Health Policy

CTHPP testimony opposing Governor’s budget cuts to Medicaid

By Ellen Andrews | March 2, 2015 |

Testimony to the Appropriations Committee at Friday’s hearing from the CT Health Policy Project focused on the Governor’s cuts to Medicaid. Topping the list of concerns is the proposal to cut coverage for 34,000 working parents and pregnant women. The last time CT cut HUSKY parents in 2003, the impact was devastating to many CT…

More on budget cuts – it makes no sense

By Ellen Andrews | February 24, 2015 |

Providers and advocates detailed the potential impact if the Governor’s budget proposals are adopted in a CT Mirror article published today. Heading the list of counterproductive cuts is the proposal to derail Medicaid efforts to coordinate care for the most costly and fragile members, expanding the successful model that reversed the HUSKY mess under managed…

Troubling Medicaid, SIM updates

By Ellen Andrews | February 22, 2015 |

Friday’s Medicaid Council meeting focused on eligibility, renewal changes and implementation with a very helpful primer on the process. There is no clear answer to why Medicaid membership has dropped by 34,232 since October, but the transition to MAGI income rules and renewal delays to protect consumers from lapses in coverage are probably part of…

New issue brief examines impact of Governor’s proposed Medicaid cuts

By Ellen Andrews | February 19, 2015 |

A new CTHPP issue brief explores the Governor’s budget proposals for the Medicaid program, CT’s largest coverage plan. The brief describes the costs of replacement coverage from the insurance exchange for the 34,000 HUSKY parents who would be cut in the Governor’s proposal. The brief also puts perspective on the cuts compared to savings in…

Governor proposes deep cuts to Medicaid

By Ellen Andrews | February 18, 2015 |

Updated February 19 Despite strong evidence of cost control and improving quality in the Medicaid program, today the Governor has proposed significant cuts to both eligibility and provider payment rates. The Governor has proposed cutting 34,000 low income parents off the HUSKY program. Parents in families of three with annual incomes as low as $28,000…

CT Mirror looks at Medicaid spending – per person down, but total spending up – and that’s OK

By Ellen Andrews | February 12, 2015 |

A new analysis of CT’s Medicaid spending by CT Mirror outlines 5 things everyone should know. My top 5, below, overlap the Mirror’s. 1. Per person spending is down, especially among newly eligible childless adults 2. Total spending is up – because we have a lot more people in the program…

Budget Update: more interim budget cuts, calls for long term fix, Medicaid deficit due to temporary issues

By Ellen Andrews | January 27, 2015 |

In response to a growing budget shortfall for this year, last week the Governor ordered $31.5 million in budget rescissions. This is the Governor’s second round of cuts for this fiscal year. Health-related cuts included $8.4 m from DDS, $1.3 m from DMHAS, $602,435 from school-based health clinics, $71,515 from Healthy Start, and $1.3m from…

Medicaid deficit rises to $120 million, but causes are unclear

By Ellen Andrews | January 21, 2015 |

The Governor announced yesterday that new cuts to the state budget will be necessary due to the rising state deficit. A large part of that deficit is in the Medicaid program, but the causes are unclear. Per person costs in the program are stable, even declining slightly since the switch away from financial risk-bearing organizations…

Medicaid update – impressive quality dashboard demo

By Ellen Andrews | January 20, 2015 |

At Friday’s Medicaid Council meeting, DSS demonstrated their upcoming HUSKY Health Data Dashboard. When it goes live the dashboard will give visitors drill-down access to a wealth of quality and access data across the program including outcomes, member and provider experience, provider enrollment, spending and utilization, as well as special projects. All Medicaid services will…

Medicaid update

By Ellen Andrews | December 15, 2014 |

The Medicaid Council workgroup developing quality measures to use in reforming Medicaid’s payment system has held a couple of meetings – one very constructive, the first not so much. The first meeting was hastily called, dominated by SIM representatives, and contentious. However, the comforting bottom line from that meeting was that DSS will make the…