After expanding Connecticut's Medicaid program to include children up to 12 years old, regardless of immigration status, a new bill would expand that coverage to people up to 26 years old.
Roughly 200 people testified Tuesday about the proposed bill to expand HUSKY Health, Connecticut's Medicaid system.
Werner Oyanadel, the Latino and Puerto Rican policy director at the Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity and Opportunity, said at an earlier news conference that health care is a human right and should be included in the new Connecticut budget.
“I think the state of Connecticut is realizing that the way that we provide this benefit to the population can save the state of Connecticut a lot of money, because prevention can allow the state not to see people in the emergency rooms later on,” Oyanadel said.
Luis G. Luna, the coalition manager at Husky 4 Immigrants, estimated that the bill as drafted would cost the state $18.5 million. He believes expanding state Medicaid beyond what is being proposed, to include all undocumented immigrants over 26 years old, would cost taxpayers about $63 million.
Ariana Gonzalez, an immigrant from Ecuador, shared her family’s experience during a news conference, explaining that her 8-year-old brother suffers from a lack of health care.
“When he was born, he was diagnosed with asthma,” Gonzalez said. “We had to take him to the pediatrician frequently because he was very ill. He needed many medical tests, and that cost a lot of money. My home is just me, my mom and my little brother.”
However, the bill faces opposition. Rep. Gale Mastrofrancesco (R-Wolcott) said in a statement that she is “strongly against this legislation as it will provide state funds to people who are not citizens nor permanent residents, at a time when other services for legal residents remain underfunded.” She also expressed concern that the full cost of the legislation hasn’t been determined.
