Connecticut has become the first state to expand its Medicaid program to cover children of undocumented immigrants.
Gov.
Ned Lamont announced the expansion of the Medicaid program, known as HUSKY, on Monday, the Hartford Courant reports.
The previous state law limited enrollment for undocumented children up to age 12.
Now, coverage has been extended to children 15 and under.
"If you're not healthy, if you're not taken care of, if you don't get a vaccine, if you're not able to be tested, that puts you at risk and that puts our greater Connecticut family at risk and we all look out for each other," said Lamont, who signed the bill into law in 2023.
The expansion is funded under the state's budget for the Department of Social Services, the Courant reports.
"That's good for taxpayers here because that funding was available, and we were picking up the tab because of all of the complications that come when women don't have access to prenatal care," says a department official.
Luis Luna, a coalition manager for HUSKY 4 Immigrants, tells WSHU that about 60% of undocumented immigrants in the US don't have access to health care.
He says close to 12,000 children and 5,000 pregnant people have signed
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