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Democrat Connecticut State Reps. Anne M. Hughes (135th Dist.), Sarah Keitt (134th Dist.), Nick Gauthier (38th Dist.), Mike Demicco (21st Dist.), Laurie Sweet (91st Dist.), Nicholas Menapace (37th Dist.), and Michael "MJ" Shannon (117th Dist) have proposed expanding HUSKY Health Care Coverage to all income-eligible children and young adults up to age 26, regardless of immigration status in proposed bill 5430.
Just last month, The Hartford Business Journal published an article about how the ‘HUSKY for immigrants’ program might blow through its original budget due to "high demand."
The program was originally launched in January 2023 with about 4,250 children expected to sign up.
By April 2024, around 11,000 children had enrolled in 'HUSKY for immigrants'.
The program grew to 15,000 children by July 2024 when children up to age 16 were included -- that's approximately 3.5x more children than were originally expected to sign up.
The original budget for FY 2024 was $11.5M, growing to $18.9M in 2025.
Apparently, the Department of Social Services ("DSS"), which runs "HUSKY for immigrants", doesn't actually know exactly how much the program costs to run, but hopes to have a better idea by February 2025.
That being said, by April 2024, DSS had already estimated the program would cost $25M, more than double the original FY 2024 budget of $11.5M.
Governor Ned Lamont knew by February 2024 that the 'HUSKY for immigrants' budget was blowing up, and estimated the program might cost as much as $30M for fiscal year 2025, well north of the original $18.9M budget.
House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora complained at the time that the state had "a brand new program that’s not capped, and we don’t have any easy way of ascertaining the cost."
Republican leadership then called for an end to the 'HUSKY for immigrants' program entirely in light of other budgetary issues, including a $200M medicare shortfall, but DSS said 'HUSKY for immigrants' cannot be stopped without legislative approval.
So the existing program that provides health care coverage to immigrants, including illegals, is already running way over budget.
And now Reps. Hughes, Keitt, Gauthier, Demicco, Sweet, Menapace, and Shannon want to dramatically expand coverage to young people up to age 26, at what is sure to be an astronomical cost to taxpayers.
Maybe they didn't see the letter America First Legal sent to Governor Lamont?
The one that starts of saying, "Federal law is clear: aliens unlawfully present in the United States are subject to removal from the country, and it is a crime to conceal, harbor, or shield them."
The letter further states, "Similarly, it is a crime if an individual encourages or induces an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States, knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that such coming to, entry, or residence is or will be in violation of law."
Wouldn't offering HUSKY health insurance to aliens unlawfully present in the U.S. be considered encouraging or inducing them to come to, enter or reside in the U.S., in "reckless disregard" of federal immigration law?
Why do Connecticut Democrats act as if federal immigration laws do not apply to them?
Calling Tom Homan...
