Poor Adults Oppose Connecticut Medicaid Rules Changes

By Susan Haigh

Associated Press

HARTFORD (AP) — Poor adults who rely on a state insurance program for medical care and advocates for the needy urged state legislators on Tuesday to oppose a plan by Connecticut’s Department of Social Services that would tighten eligibility rules.

Sheldon Toubman, staff attorney at New Haven Legal Assistance, told the General Assembly’s Appropriations and Human Services Committees that the state’s application seeking federal approval to change its eligibility rules is a “serious mistake.” He predicted thousands of people, especially those 19–26 years old, will ultimately end up without any health coverage.

Members of the legislature’s Appropriations and Human Services Committees held a joint hearing on Tuesday. Afterward, lawmakers held off on voting whether to authorize Governor Dannel P. Malloy’s administration to seek federal permission to tighten the rules for the state’s two-year-old Medicaid health insurance program for needy, single adults.

Committee leaders said they wanted to continue talks with the Department of Social Services about its application to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Lawmakers have until August 18 to act on the application. If they don’t act, the administration can automatically proceed.

One of the eligibility changes DSS wants permission to make would count a young person’s parental assets and income toward eligibility so long as they live with their parents or are claimed as a dependent on their parents’ tax returns. Connecticut officials believe some parents of college-age children are taking advantage of the state’s Medicaid for Low Income Adults program, or LIA, so they don’t have to use private insurance.

Given the program’s fast-growing costs, Benjamin Barnes, Gov Malloy’s budget director, said the state wants to make sure program remains available for single adults with very low incomes, and not for those who may have other options for health insurance coverage.

“We are only seeking to limit eligibility in cases where people have resources available to provide themselves with insurance,” he said. DSS estimates more than 13,000 could be pared from LIA’s rolls if the new rules are ultimately approved.

But Toubman questioned the administration’s assumption that some parents are “too cheap” to buy coverage. Toubman and other advocates voiced concern on Tuesday that the proposed eligibility changes will exacerbate the already over-taxed DSS eligibility system, which has experienced lengthy delays for applicants and existing recipients and prompted a lawsuit.