How HUSKY & SNAP are helping people like Phoebe
Protecting food and healthcare protects our communities
Phoebe is strategic about the $292 in SNAP benefits she gets each month. She carefully plans her shopping trips to maximize deals – the Aldi’s in another town has cheaper groceries, and the meat is less expensive at ShopRite – but she still skips meals to make that money stretch an entire month.
“I don’t have a job right now, so the SNAP benefits are what get me my groceries,” said Phoebe, a member of The Connecticut Project’s New Britain community action team. “They’re what feed me for the month.”
SNAP, also called “food stamps,” pays for Phoebe’s groceries, and HUSKY health insurance helps her afford to see a doctor. But under the new federal budget, many people in Connecticut could lose access to benefits unless the state steps in.
Last year, more than 400,000 Connecticut residents used SNAP to help pay for groceries, and 900,000 used HUSKY for medical care. The federal cuts are unfair, cruel, and will hurt people in our state, especially single moms, children, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities. It’s estimated that up to 200,000 Connecticut residents could lose access to HUSKY, and it’s not yet clear how many could lose SNAP.
Phoebe has worked two full-time jobs at once to afford the rising cost of rent. She recently moved into a new place after being unhoused for several months. She’s spent the last six months trying to find a job, but the search has been hard because she doesn’t have a car or a bike.
“If you have to take a bus or walk to get a job, there is not a lot of job options,” she said.
The $292 she gets a month from SNAP doesn’t stretch as far as it used to. It’s also hard to afford the basics SNAP doesn’t cover, like toilet paper, shampoo, and laundry detergent.
“I have to very carefully pick and choose what I’m going to buy,” she said.
She’s been forced to choose between buying groceries or paying a bill.
“In my head I’m like, ‘Oh, if I just drink milk and eat like, one thing of yogurt, I can push out the rest of my food for the rest of the month,’ which is not how it should be.”
Kicking people off SNAP, she said, is unfair.
“I think [SNAP is] very beneficial, and I think that taking it away from people is going to harm people who, you know, are in horrible circumstances, people who need to feed their children,” she said.
She’s been on HUSKY, which is Connecticut’s name for the federal Medicaid program, since 2023. It covered her medical costs when she had an ear infection.
“I love HUSKY,” she said. “That is like my lifesaver.”
It is still not clear when cuts and changes to SNAP and HUSKY will happen, because the state has not received a timeline from the federal government. The Connecticut Department of Social Services is tracking changes to HUSKY and SNAP and when they will happen. If you are currently using HUSKY or SNAP, you should still receive your benefits until you hear otherwise.
Connecticut must step in to protect our services from unfair federal cuts. Unless the state takes action, people will lose access to HUSKY and SNAP. Our state has a responsibility to protect our communities. Cutting these programs is wrong and will hurt residents across Connecticut who will be forced to choose between paying for food and going to a doctor. And as Phoebe’s experience shows, people are already barely getting by.
Phoebe urges people to contact their representatives to tell them to protect our services – she’s doing the same, and spreading the word, as part of her local community action team.
“If you’re not thinking about it for you, think about it for somebody else,” she said.
Take action now to fight for HUSKY and SNAP.
