Health-care activists keep the pressure on

Protesters descend on Capitol to rally against budget cuts

HARTFORD — Their song echoed in the quiet halls of the Capitol.

“With Medicaid, I can get the medicine I need!” rows of men and women chorused to the tune of “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” “With Medicaid, we’ve got a chance to live!”

For an hour Wednesday, Medicaid beneficiaries, community activists and heath-care lobbyists rallied and then readied themselves in a Capitol meeting room.

They patted “Restore Medicaid” stickers on their chests and traded tips on how to get legislators to listen. Then, they walked to the Legislative Office Building to testify.

Some 113,000 elderly and disabled residents were on track to lose all or part of their government health coverage under the 2017-19 state budget that legislators adopted in October.

Faced with hundreds of millions in deficits, lawmakers cut income eligibility for the Medicare Savings Plan, eliminated Husky A coverage for some adults at the federal poverty level, imposed a cap on dentalcare spending and cut reimbursement rates for primary-care providers.

State Rep. Toni Walker, D-New Haven, a co-chair of the legislative Appropriations Committee, said Wednesday that lawmakers are still looking for solutions to help them avoid some of the cuts.

“We don’t know everything, and we don’t understand all of the possibilities, and maybe some of the adjustments we may be able to make will save us money but not cut services,” said Walker after a lengthy public hearing Wednesday night. “The difficult part is we have cut so much over the past three years . ... at this point, where do we cut?”

The reduction in benefits for the Medicare Savings Program, which is paid for with federal Medicaid funding, were carried forward from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget. The changes are expected to save the state $27.35 million in 2018 and $69.5 million in 2019.

“It was part of the governor’s original budget proposal, so it was part of consensus building with the administration,” Senate President Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said in December.

Legislators initially restored the funding Jan. 8 but Malloy vetoed the restoration. The legislators overrode Malloy’s veto Jan. 17 and put the program back in place subject to more budget-setting meetings that started this month.

Many of the activists Wednesday said they had been fighting against Medicaid cuts since Malloy issued his proposed budget in February 2017. About a dozen spoke to members of the legislative Appropriations Committee Wednesday night.

Most of the cuts will not take effect until July 1, and, as legislators work to mitigate deficits and refine some details of the budget for 2018 and 2019, Connecticut residents and activists are urging them to amend the budget and restore the Medicaid cuts permanently.

“If I lose my Medicare 20 percent, I will not be able to pay my medical expenses,” said Hartford resident Juliet Meyer, who is enrolled in a Medicare Savings Plan and has experienced health issues after her face was damaged by a horse in 2009. “I will have to choose between going blind and eating and paying rent and all other living expenses.”

Kim Hart, 56, drove up from her home in New Haven to add her voice to the cause. A disabled mother of two sons, she said she often had to decide between paying her electric bill and buying food. She depends on Medicaid when she takes her 16-year-old boy to the doctor to afford prescriptions when he is sick.

“When he had his tonsils out, Medicaid was there,” she said during a 4 p.m. activist meeting held before the testimony began. “Without it, my son would not be as healthy as he is now.”

West Hartford resident Melissa Marshall, a coordinator with the Connecticut Cross Disability Lifespan Alliance, said she was purposefully arrested in July 2018 in the governor’s office while trying to demonstrate against the cuts. She called Medicaid a “civil rights issue.”

“This is going to make people unable to participate in society,” she said.