As Medicaid, Medicare Turn 60, Advocates Worry Tens of Thousands of CT Residents Will Lose Coverage

by Jamil Ragland CTNewsJunkie

HARTFORD, CT — As Medicaid and Medicare turn 60, advocates are warning that hundreds of thousands of Connecticut residents could lose their coverage from the two safety net programs due to changes at the federal level. 

The Connecticut Citizen Action Group (CCAG), in conjunction with Americans for Tax Fairness and Health Care for America Now!, released a seven page report Wednesday morning detailing the potential impacts that recently passed Republican budget conciliation bill, also known as One Big Beautiful Bill, will have on Medicare and Medicaid in the state. 

“This bill goes out of its way to be cruel,” Liz Dupont-Diehl, associate director of CCAG, said at a news conference announcing the report. “It punishes states like Connecticut that have expanded coverage to people who are not documented. Let’s be clear about what’s happening. The Trump regime is taking vital services from people, hospitals, and services and giving that money to billionaires and to corporations.”

Medicaid and Medicare were signed into law on June 30, 1965, by President Lyndon B. Johnson as part of the Social Security Amendments of 1965.

According to the report, states like Connecticut that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, will face a much larger cut to Medicaid funding. On average, states that expanded coverage will see a 14.5% cut, compared to a smaller cut averaging 7.9% for states that did not expand coverage.

In human terms, the cuts, combined with added requirements regarding eligibility and recertification, may lead to nearly 175,000 residents losing coverage, according to the report. About 120,000 of those are Medicaid recipients, and the other residents would lose their Affordable Care Act coverage.

The report also details the potential impact on the state’s economy. It states that over 119,000 jobs will be lost due to the Medicaid cuts, as the state receives just over $1.5 million less in federal funding from Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Overall, the report projects that Connecticut’s GDP will shrink by over $2 billion by 2029, with the state’s revenue taking a $198 million hit. 

“Medicare is hanging on by a thread, and is facing automatic cuts this summer if Congress doesn’t step forward to protect that vital program,” said Sen. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, co-chair of the Human Services Committee. He also discussed the impact of cuts to Medicaid, saying that one third of children in the state, and two thirds of people in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities rely on the program.

“Are we going to sustain this program? Are we going to continue to invest in Medicaid and make sure that it keeps its commitment to the residents of the state, or are we going to walk back to that promise that President Johnson made 60 years ago and turn our backs on the most vulnerable?”

Sally Grossman said she signed up for Connecticut’s Medicaid program, known as Husky, during her first pregnancy after learning her private insurance didn’t cover maternity care and offered no way for her to purchase the coverage. Her pregnancy faced several complications which required hospital visits, which were covered by Husky.

“The cost of my maternity care, had I not had Husky coverage, would have been tens of thousands of dollars,” she said. “But because I did not have that huge medical debt, I was able to put the little money I did have into starting a small business, which I did a year after my son was born.”

She said Husky was the reason she is now able to support her family.

State Rep. Jillian Gilchrest, D-West Hartford, co-chair of the human services committee, pointed to Grossman’s story as an example of the role government should play.

“(Sally Grossman) had a health care plan that didn’t offer maternity care. Well, what use is that?” Gilchrest said. “So that’s when the state steps in to provide a program that makes sure people can get the services they need.”