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Study: HUSKY Premiums May Reduce Enrollment
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Business New Haven
12/08/2003
By: BNH
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HARTFORD - If Connecticut imposes health insurance premiums on low-income state Medicaid beneficiaries as required by this year's budget, more than 86,000 children and their parents might be at risk to lose health coverage, according to a policy brief commissioned by the Connecticut Health Foundation (CHF) and the Anthem Foundation of Connecticut and conducted by Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute and Connecticut Voices for Children.
The state's "Healthcare for UninSured Kids & Youth" (HUSKY) program provides insurance to families that otherwise could not afford it. Its provision of services under the traditional Medicaid program is known as HUSKY Part A. The study suggested that the potential impact of premiums on HUSKY A enrollment included:
o A decline in enrollment by a total of 86,744 adults and children, or 30 percent of all HUSKY A enrollees. Of those who could lose coverage, approximately 69 percent would be children.
o About half of those expected to lose coverage would be families whose incomes fall below the federal poverty level - a total of 41,282 people with monthly family incomes ranging between $604 and $1,196.
o The remaining 33,426 children and 12,036 adults who might lose coverage have family incomes ranging from 100 percent to 184 percent of the poverty line.
Based on experiences of other states, Connecticut may see more uninsured children and parents if premiums are imposed, according to policy brief co-author Joan Alker, a senior researcher at Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute.
The General Assembly included language in the "budget implementer" that directs the state's Department of Social Services to impose premiums on HUSKY A recipients at lower federal poverty levels. For example, families of three with incomes between 50 percent and 100 percent of the federal poverty level - $636 to $1,272 per month - would pay $10 per family member per month, with a $25 maximum.
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