| Dear Friend, Thank you for your support this legislative session! Your advocacy was essential and, together, we ARE making a difference. The 2021 legislative session came to a close on June 9th with special sessions to pass budget-related bills quickly following. Here are the health equity highlights: Bills that passed: Anti-racist policymaking: S.B. 1 declares racism a public health crisis in Connecticut, creates a cross-sector Commission on Racial Equity in Public Health, tasks this Commission with creating a strategic plan for addressing health equity, defines the doula profession, creates a doula scope of practice review, and standardizes the way the state collects race, ethnicity, and language (REL) data…among other important provisions. Governor Lamont signed the bill into law; Public Act 21-35. Health care: -
H.B. 6687 creates access to HUSKY for children up to age 8 and pregnant people regardless of immigration status. -
S.B. 1202 (the budget implementer) expanded HUSKY postpartum coverage to 12 months and created a program to establish no-cost enrollment in AccessHealth CT with access to HUSKY dental and transportation services for adults in households earning under 175% of the federal poverty level. -
S.B. 1004 allows dependent children to stay on their parents’ vision and dental insurance until age 26. Telehealth: -
H.B. 5596 and H.B. 6470 continue coverage of telehealth services in the state. Neither studies the equity impact of these services. -
H.B. 6442 expands broadband infrastructure but does not address affordability. Budget highlights: -
Funds community action agencies to hire community health workers -
Funds the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities to oversee a study of equity in government programs and actions and make related recommendations -
Removes the child cap from TANF (cash assistance) -
Please note that the distribution of some federal funding will be voted on soon Bills that did not pass: THANK YOU! Your calls, emails, actions, insights, and showing up are what make policy change happen. Don’t forget to thank your legislators for their votes on issues that matter to you! Stay tuned: We are planning listening sessions throughout Connecticut. These events inform our policy agenda each year. Look out for details, which we will send soon. Questions? Comments? Reach out to Samantha Lew at slew@hesct.org or (860) 937-6432. Kind regards, Tekisha Dwan Everette, PhD
Executive Director | |
