skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Trump touts immigration crackdown despite concerns about due process; NY faces potential impacts from federal vote on emissions standards; ND Tribes can elevate tourism game with new grants; WA youth support money for Medicaid, not war.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Major shifts in environmental protections, immigration enforcement, civil rights as Trump administration reshapes government priorities. Rural residents and advocates for LGBTQ youth say they're worried about losing services.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Migration to rural America increased for the fourth year, technological gaps handicap rural hospitals and erode patient care, and doctors are needed to keep the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians healthy and align with spiritual principles.

Census Shows Uninsured Increasing in CT

play audio
Play

Thursday, October 4, 2018   

HARTFORD, Conn. – An estimated 21,000 more Connecticut residents lacked health insurance in 2017 than in the year before, according to a new report.

The report from Connecticut Voices for Children analyzes newly released data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey.

Rachel Silbermann, economic and fiscal policy fellow with Connecticut Voices, says the rise in the number of the uninsured appears due to actions taken by the state Legislature in the summer of 2015.

"We believe the primary cause was budget cuts which led to 11,000 parents losing access to HUSKY A, which is Medicaid for children, parents and pregnant women," she states.

Silbermann adds that when parents lose their health insurance, their children often end up uninsured as well, even if they are eligible for coverage.

The report also found that, when adjusted for inflation, median household income remained stagnant between 2016 and 2017, which means the economic outlook for families in Connecticut has not improved.

"There isn't much change, and this is true for households overall, for white households, for black households and for Hispanic or Latino households as well," Silbermann points out.

Although unemployment did decrease in that time period, poverty and child poverty did not go down significantly, in contrast to the rest of the country.

The Connecticut Voices for Children report makes several recommendations for legislative action to remove barriers to family health and economic security.

Silbermann says a major step would be making sure workers are paid a living wage.

"A gradual, phased-in increase of the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2021,” she urges. “This would raise incomes for more than 500,000 people, which is about 32 percent of all Connecticut workers."

Other recommendations include restoring the Earned Income Tax Credit to 30 percent of the federal level, and implementing paid family leave.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
A day before Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested, federal authorities apprehended a former New Mexico judge and his wife on charges related to harboring an undocumented immigrant. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Legal experts and advocates are outraged over the arrest of a Milwaukee judge last week who was charged with helping an undocumented defendant avoid a…


play sound

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk have proposed privatizing the United States Postal Service by selling it off to a corporation such as FedEx or UP…

Health and Wellness

play sound

By Brett Kelman for KFF Health News.Broadcast version by Freda Ross for Arkansas News Service reporting for the KFF Health News-Public News Service Co…


Advocates from Compassion & Choices attended a hearing for Senate Bill 403 before the State Senate Committee on Health on April 23. (Patricia Portillo/Compassion & Choices)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A bill to make medical aid in dying permanently legal in California goes before the state Senate Judiciary Committee today. The End of Life Option …

Environment

play sound

A major player in the Northwest's energy landscape is considering changes in the future, as extreme climate events make power delivery in Oregon more …

The Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River in Washington is the largest in the Bonneville Power Administration system. (Will/Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

A major player in the Northwest's energy landscape is considering changes in the future as extreme climate events make power delivery in Washington mo…

Social Issues

play sound

On May 1, Oregon labor and immigrants' rights organizations are gathering in Salem calling for justice for immigrant workers and an end to mass …

Social Issues

play sound

LGBTQ+ advocates in South Dakota are reeling from passage of another state law they said harms their community. Now, there is concern possible …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021