Connecticut Gets a Grade of “Incomplete” on Protecting Health Coverage of Medicaid Eligible Residents

By Dr. Peggy Lampkin,

An open letter:

Dear Gov. Ned Lamont;

l am a resident of this state. I am sending you this message to urge you to act now to end a major health emergency regarding Medicaid Disenrollment. A coalition of Partners from the human rights community have developed state-focused scorecards that grade each Governor on their handling of providing Medicaid Coverage for their states’ residents. Ultimately states and their respective Governors are graded on how well they protect the health coverage of Medicaid Eligible Citizens now that the protections of the Covid 19 public health emergency (PHE) have ended. The grade for each state and the District of Columbia is structured as a passing A, Incomplete l or Failure F. Based on the data we have earned an Incomplete grade. Learn more about your grade at naacp.org/medicaid. Leading civil and human rights organizations released a report in December, 2022 foreshadowing the Medicaid crisis and urging Congress to do something to keep families covered. It was projected that no action would result in over 15 million people losing Medicaid and Chip coverage. The majority of these impacted would likely come from communities of color! Now that we have passed the six month into Medicaid disenrollments, we are witnessing the single largest health coverage transition event in our Nation’s history! More than 10.1 million children, families, seniors have already lost coverage because of procedural reasons or “Red Tape”. Of those that have lost Medicaid coverage, at least 54% are from Black and Brown Communities. This also includes an alarming 2 million eligible Children that have lost health coverage. As your constituent, I urge you to move beyond the current pause on procedural Medicaid determinations and immediately use an automated enrollment renewal system and process moving forward. This can be achieved by including community members, stakeholders and advocates in the process to fix “RED TAPE” issues and learning from the strengths of the continuous monitoring of our healthcare. Ultimately, access to healthcare is critical for every resident of our state. No one, be it child, grandparents, person with disabilities etc, should lose health coverage for PROCEDURAL REASONS. I am counting on your immediate attention in addressing this crisis and keeping eligible families covered. Your attention to this matter would whole-heartily be appreciated.

Peggy Lampkin, MD

Want to get involved?

• Visit NAACP.org/Medicaid to learn more about the crisis. Download our scorecards to help spread the word on social media using the hashtag #Hands off our Healthcare and #Medicaid score cards
• Contact your Governor. Did your state receive an F or l grade?
• Reach out to your governor to tell them to immediately pause procedural Medicaid disenrollment and keep eligible families covered.
• If your state received an A contact your Governor to thank them, for setting an example for other states and to continue prioritizing healthcare for all.
• Contact your NAACP STATE HEALTH Leaders to support their efforts in engaging with your states Governor and Medicaid Director.

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