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SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

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Low-Income Parents Could Lose HUSKY Health Coverage

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Monday, March 18, 2013   

JEWETT CITY, Conn. - Governor Dannel Malloy's proposed budget includes saving money by cutting 30,000 to 40,000 parents off the state's HUSKY Health program, parents who are currently at the upper end of income eligibility. According to Malloy, they could be covered starting next January by subsidized coverage under the Affordable Care Act, but that comes with additional out-of-pocket expenses.

Traci Edwards lives with her 10-year-old daughter in Jewett City and works full-time as a program assistant for a non-profit. She and her daughter are both on HUSKY, but she'd lose coverage for herself under Malloy's plan.

"You know, I want to pay my way, I want to, but I can't afford to," Edwards said. "You understand, everything's going up - everything but my income."

For a family of two like hers, parents earning just over $20,600 a year could lose coverage. Edwards says her income won't stretch to cover the extra expense of the alternative insurance.

Malloy's point man on the Affordable Care Act says low-income parents' contributions to their coverage would be minimal.

However, health care advocates also object to Malloy's proposal, among them Jill Zorn, senior program officer with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut.

"We're quite concerned that what's going to happen is that many of them will end up uninsured," Zorn declared. "We just don't think that when they passed the Affordable Care Act, that was the goal: to take people with good insurance and have them end up uninsured."

Parents who would be affected are at 133 percent to 185 percent of the federal poverty level.

Traci Edwards has another reason to be very concerned if she gets kicked off HUSKY insurance.

"I was diagnosed with a very serious disease, and I'll never be able to afford the medication," she said.




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