Fate of terminated HUSKY parents troubling, implications for families staying together

By Ellen Andrews | November 16, 2015 |

At Friday’s Medicaid Council meeting we learned that 167 of the 1,215 HUSKY parents that lost coverage last year were able to buy insurance from the health insurance exchange. Unfortunately 32 former HUSKY parents initially signed up for insurance through AccessHealthCT, but later lost coverage because they didn’t pay their premiums. It is not clear if they found other coverage or weren’t able to afford coverage at all and are now uninsured. It is unclear how many have been able to stay on HUSKY because they remain eligible in another category. At least three HUSKY parents cut off the program left their original households and now are eligible as single households. Council members expressed concern about the potential implications of the cuts for keeping families together. Another 18,389 HUSKY parents are scheduled to lose coverage on July 31, 2016 unless the state reverses the cuts.

We also heard that the backlog of pdf applications is now gone, so application delays should be far lower. Total Medicaid eligibility has fluctuated over the last year because of the pdf problem, the shift to MAGI income eligibility and HUSKY parents’ cuts. As of last month, 716,833 state residents were enrolled in Medicaid.

Posted in Budget Process, CT Health Reform, HUSKY, Medicaid, uninsured