HUSKY keeps Dotty independent

She’s speaking out for people who might lose insurance

HUSKY C pays for the aid who helps Dotty with laundry, cleaning, cooking, and takes her to the grocery store and medical appointments. Dotty, who is 74, blind, and uses a wheelchair, said the aid keeps her in her home.

“And if I don’t have the medical insurance to cover that, then they have to throw me into a nursing home,” she said.

The East Hartford resident is one of about 900,000 Connecticut residents who use HUSKY for medical care. But with federal cuts, up to 200,000 people in the state could lose their coverage unless lawmakers step in.

Dotty is using her voice to fight to prevent others from losing their health insurance. She joined The Connecticut Project Action Fund in September for a town hall on protecting HUSKY and SNAP.

“I have always believed in giving information to people about what they need to know,” she said.

She said she wants representatives to be aware of people’s concerns so they can research how people will be hurt.

“If we don’t tell them, they aren’t going to know what is worrying us,” she said.

She’s concerned about who will be hurt by cuts. She’s prepared for the worst-case scenario by making a list of her medications and deciding which ones she’d stop taking if she wasn’t able to afford them anymore. She said she couldn’t afford the copay for her heart medication without HUSKY.

HUSKY helps her daily. Because of her home aid, Dotty isn’t forced to rely on friends for help getting to the grocery store and appointments. She wants to stay out of a nursing home, because she fears she would lose her independence.

“For one thing, I have options as to what I want to do, or what I can do,” she said. “I could go to the senior center. I can get my aid, or a friend, and go to the grocery store, or wherever I’d like to go. If I were in a nursing home, I wouldn’t have those options.”

She said that nursing homes that provide more independence are too expensive for her, and worries that less expensive ones can have residents fall through the cracks. She recalls a situation when she tried calling someone who was blind and living in a nursing home. But when she rang the front desk, they didn’t know which residents were blind.

“No, I don’t want to go there, to that place,” Dotty said.

She plans to apply for SNAP next year when her Medicare grocery benefits lower from $135 a month to $50 a month. About 400,000 Connecticut residents currently use SNAP to help pay for groceries. The looming cruel and unfair federal cuts will take at least $25 a month from about 58,000 Connecticut households, with the average household losing $194 in benefits a month. For people who are already struggling to make ends meet, that money can mean everything.

The Connecticut Department of Social Services is tracking changes to HUSKY and SNAP and when they will happen. 

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.

Take action now to fight for HUSKY and SNAP.