Take Action
Ask Governor Lamont to fix the Medicaid Call Center
The state needs to address extreme wait times at the DSS call center. Twenty-four consumer groups signed a letter to Governor Lamont and legislative leaders urging them to address imminent harms from passage of HR-1, especially the troubled Call Center for member assistance.
In July, the average wait time on DSS’s Call Center was 51 minutes and 53% of callers gave up before anyone picked up the call. These numbers have not changed much in years. It takes nine months to a year for DSS to hire and train new call center staff. DSS requires their contractors’ Call Centers to answer calls within a minute or two. As complex new Medicaid work requirements under HR-1 are implemented, calls will undoubtedly increase. The state needs to start preparing now.
Reach the Governor’s Office here.
Urge policymakers to do everything CT can to keep people covered
Cuts passed in the federal budget are expected to cause 150,000 Connecticut residents to lose healthcare coverage and our uninsured rate will jump to its highest level in decades. This will impact the newly uninsured and their families profoundly, but also the rest of us. The cuts are a major blow to our healthcare system including closing services and possibly more hospitals, higher prices for healthcare, lost jobs, and rising medical debt.
The main impact will be to Medicaid due to a burdensome new requirement that 340,000 adults on Medicaid must work to keep their healthcare coverage. The losses will be largely due to pointless red tape. Most people who will lose coverage are working or exempt under the law. Needless red tape is more than irritating; it can deny people healthcare.
This wasn’t our idea. Connecticut policymakers didn’t vote for it. But we have to implement it anyway. DSS is working with stakeholders, including advocates and HUSKY members, to find a way to carefully implement the law, ensuring that no one loses coverage due to red tape. Advocates have given advice on how to do this responsibly and provide supports for people who need help complying.
The federal budget also includes cuts to immigrants’ coverage, including many here legally, and people buying coverage through Access Health CT, our health insurance exchange.
Connecticut policymakers need to do their part and devote the necessary resources in staff, funding, and data, to minimize senseless coverage losses.
Find your legislators and how to reach them here.
Fully fund CT public health to prevent healthcare problems
Like most states, Connecticut chronically underfunds proven public health initiatives that prevent healthcare problems. Public health is the best investment in our health we can make. Experts estimate that only 20% of our health outcomes are connected to clinical care services; far more is driven by public health functions.
Over the 20th Century, Americans’ life expectancy rose 62%. Those gains were largely due to effective public health initiatives like clean water and vaccines. But more recently progress has stalled. Rates of chronic and infectious diseases are growing. There is good evidence that state health policy makes an important difference in the health of state residents.
Too often we neglect critical public health funding until there is a crisis, like a pandemic. We then pour money in, as we should, and later forget about it again when the crisis passes. Building a strong public health infrastructure takes time and sustained support.
Other, healthier countries don’t make this mistake. Unfortunately, the Trump administration and the new Congress have accelerated the erosion of public health. Connecticut policymakers need to step in and invest in evidence-based public health innovations to keep our state healthy.
Find your legislators and how to reach them here.