Help Medicaid members keep healthcare benefits under threat

As federal Medicaid cuts loom, DSS is urging HUSKY and SNAP recipients to update their contact information. The federal budget bill, HR-1, passed in July, included significant cuts to both HUSKY and SNAP. It is expected that thousands of Connecticut residents will lose benefits. The bill also added complex administrative burdens for over 300,000 HUSKY Part D members, including a complicated work requirement.

Experts predict over 100,000 Connecticut residents will lose coverage because of HR-1, most because of the work requirements. This will harm their health, but also our communities, our healthcare systems, and our economy.

To minimize harm and keep everyone eligible covered, DSS has created an Update Us so we can Update You graphic and website. Share the graphic and link broadly to help people keep their healthcare.

Unfortunately, the federal rules for the work requirement won’t be released until June, and DSS needs to implement it on January 1st. That isn’t much time to stand up very complex changes. It’s also not much time to inform a lot of people about who this covers (and who it doesn’t) and how to keep their healthcare coverage. DSS needs members’ updated contact information to cut through the confusion and keep people informed as it happens.

During Arkansas’s trial with work requirements 18,000 people lost Medicaid coverage. Even worse, almost all of them were either working or exempt and shouldn’t have been dropped. Many people didn’t know about the changes because the state didn’t have accurate contact information. As the state couldn’t reach them, confusion was rampant.

DSS is working hard to avoid that outcome here. They want to keep every eligible member on HUSKY and help them comply with the new requirements. But they need members’ updated contact information. People aren’t enrolled in Medicaid, can find out if they are eligible and sign up at the website.

Share DSS’s Update Us graphic and link broadly to make sure no one in Connecticut loses healthcare because they didn’t know.