A Hartford Superior Court Judge ruled last week that the state must continue offering health insurance to an estimated 4,823 legal immigrants, while the Department of Social Services appeals the decision.
Last month Hartford Superior Court Judge Grant H. Miller ruled in favor of the class of legal immigrants seeking to keep their state-sponsored medical benefits. Miller agreed with Greater Hartford Legal Aid attorneys who argued that ending the program violated the equal protection clause of both the state and federal constitutions.
But after the injunction was granted no action was taken by the state to make sure the program continued, Susan Garten, an attorney representing the class of immigrants, said Monday.
Then, last week, on Jan. 8 Miller denied the state’s motion for a stay in the case and the state got to work reinstating the program.
The state really should have been offering the program immediately after Miller’s Dec. 18 decision, Garten, a Greater Hartford Legal Aid attorney, said. She said it’s unfortunate the state didn’t immediately send out notices to those already enrolled in the program because they may have forgone medical attention in the interim.
She said she hopes the message that the program still exists gets out there because those attempting to sign up for the program for the first time were turned away.
A spokesman for the Department of Social Services, which administers the program, said the agency taken steps to reinstate the program and open it up to new applicants.
In addition to re-opening the program it will be sending out notices to participants and doctors to let them know medical coverage for those enrolled will be reinstated retroactively to Dec. 1, 2009.
Most of the program, mainly the state-funded portion, had been discontinued as the state looked for ways to plug the budget deficit.
“This is a difficult and unpleasant situation brought on by the state budget crisis,” DSS Commissioner Michael Starkowski wrote in a letter last month o social service providers. “DSS as an executive branch agency has no choice but to administer this mandated change as expeditiously and effectively as possible.”
There were some groups, such as refugees and pregnant women under the age of 21 who continued to receive care under the program even though most of the State Medical Assistance for Non-Citizens program had been discontinued. It was Democratic lawmakers who decided to continue to fund these exempt groups because of the matching federal reimbursement.
Reinstating the entire program is estimated to cost the state about $14 million per year.
It’s unclear how long the state’s appeal may take, but Garten said it’s likely the state Supreme Court will take it up once all the briefs in the case are filed.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, whose office defended the state in the case, warned Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell in July that eliminating the program could raise “significant constitutional issues and concerns.”
Support authentic, locally owned and operated public service journalism!
Blumenthal wrote that in 2004 that he wrote an official opinion stating that eliminating the program is “not clearly unconstitutional,” but would raise “serious constitutional issues in litigation, and the outcome could not be predicted with certainty.”
In that letter Blumenthal said he would defend the state against any action brought against it. “My duty is to defend the laws approved by the legislature and signed by the governor when they are challenged, and I will do so here if the SMANC program is eliminated,” Blumenthal wrote.
More Health Care News & Analysis
Medical Examining Board Fines Doctor $10,000
The state Medical Examining Board on Tuesday fined an Oxford doctor $10,000 for fraudulently using another doctor’s name and Drug Enforcement Agency registration number to prescribe controlled substances to a family member.
Keep reading
Clinical Trials With Immunotherapy Drugs Are Source Of Hope And Challenges In Treating Aggressive Breast Cancer
Joshalyn Mills of Branford and Nancy Witz of Kensington had the best possible results after being treated in clinical trials with immunotherapy drugs for aggressive breast cancer: Their tumors were eliminated. But while there are dramatic successes with immunotherapy drugs, there are also many failures, and researchers are trying to find out why in hopes…
Keep reading
Coalition of Health Insurers Questions Viability of Connecticut Partnership Plan
Members of Connecticut’s Health Care Future, a coalition of health insurers, hospitals, and businesses, are questioning whether Connecticut lawmakers have done enough this year to protect teachers and municipal employees from increases in health insurance premiums. “Despite repeated bailouts from taxpayers, the Connecticut Partnership Plan continues to be a fiscal Titanic that demonstrates why government-controlled health…
Keep reading
AG’s Tackle Mental Health Parity
Attorneys General in Connecticut and Rhode Island threw their support Monday behind a coalition of mental health advocacy groups asking a federal appeals court to revisit a recent ruling giving insurance companies more flexibility to deny mental health claims.
Keep reading
Budget Green Lights Psychedelic Therapies
Buried in the budget Gov. Ned Lamont signed this week is a provision that would create a pilot program to allow Connecticut to be the first-in-the-nation to study the impact of psychedelic drugs like psilocybin and MDMA on patients with depression and PTSD. The budget now creates a pilot program within the Department of Mental…
Keep reading
Officials Highlight Effort To Boost Mental Health Services For Kids
At a Hartford-based community provider Wednesday, Gov. Ned Lamont and a handful of his agency commissioners highlighted the expected impact of more than $100 million in recently passed funding aimed at increasing behavioral health services for Connecticut children. The governor appeared at The Village for Families and Children, a recipient of new state funding included…
Keep reading