OPINION: In CT, no one should lose healthcare, no one should starve

by Tom Swan

Last week 360,000 SNAP recipients were being told their cards will not be replenished in November.  About 158,000 other people have been receiving notices that they will see their healthcare costs rise exponentially – far beyond their ability to pay.

Connecticut is one of the richest states in one of the world’s richest countries.  We now face the very real prospect of tens of thousands of people unable to eat and losing health care. The cruelty of HR1, President Donald Trump’s big ugly bill, and his government shutdown, are taking hold in Connecticut.  Massive numbers of people are at risk to be without food and/or healthcare.

Despite an extraordinary court order that the federal government use contingency funds to keep the feed assistance coming, the threat still exists in the face of Congressional inaction.

We, in Connecticut, must act.

HR1 and the shutdown are just the latest cruel actions by Trump and Republicans that reward billionaires and corporations and at the expense of working people. Even if Congress does restore these cuts, Connecticut must be prepared to step up and make sure children do not starve and that all people have healthcare.

Unfortunately, our leaders appear to be negotiating Connecticut’s response in terms of budget limits instead of determining what it takes to meet the needs of Connecticut residents. We finished the 2024 fiscal year with a $1.9 billion surplus, which can and should be used to meet urgent needs now.

Gov. Ned Lamont, Speaker Matt Ritter, Senator Martin Looney — we have an emergency.  We cannot food bank our way out of this. Children will go hungry and health care will be at risk for everyone, unless you act.

Connecticut has the capacity to address these cuts. At the moment we have a record surplus and the wealthiest among us are receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in tax cuts as part of Trump’s big ugly Bill.

It is good that the legislature and the governor are planning a special session to address the looming crisis and cruelty about to be unleashed in Connecticut. But we need to step up, go outside the current budget framework and develop both a short term response and longer term solutions to what we are about to withstand over the next couple years

Immediate steps include:

• Ensure no one loses coverage as a result of the One Ugly Bill and Trump’s inaction.  This includes people seeking reproductive health care, Legally Present Immigrants and people receiving Enhanced Premium Tax Credit to purchase insurance on the exchange.  We know some of these items will be costly, but we should consider reforms that would lessen the costs, particularly around the tax credits.  An example is to clamp down on the profiteering by insurers through vertical integration and their self -dealing through both mandatory disclosure and caps.

• Prepare for the looming mess the bill creates for Medicaid and SNAP.  DSS has acknowledged the problems with their call centers with some recent announcements. However these steps will not come close to solving the problem and DSS should have to meet the same standards they demand for contractors in terms of customer service.  In addition, we need to significantly increase our investment in community health works to help people navigate the new bureaucratic hurdles in the bill and to do the traditional health and wellness functions CHWs perform.  This will save money on uncompensated care and by keeping people healthier.

• Make sure people have food.  The fact that Trump is playing political games with food is no excuse for Connecticut to not act here.  It is a lot of money, but if the idea of our neighbors going to bed hungry isn’t enough of a reason to act, the impact on grocers, small businesses, and farmers should make this a no brainer for the governor and legislature should be.

Some people are arguing Connecticut can’t afford to address the needs.  We argue Connecticut can’t afford not to.  We have a record budget surplus that the legislature can redirect to cover this. 

In addition, the wealthiest amongst us are receiving huge tax cuts from the ugly bill.  Do the Governor and the legislature really think these people should be able to cash these tax cuts while others starve and/or lose health care? 

We find that hard to believe because in Connecticut NO ONE SHOULD STARVE OR LOSE THEIR HEALTH CARE.

Tom Swan is the Executive Director of the Connecticut Citizen Action Group.