Advocates for Medicaid-funded home and community-based services in Connecticut are lobbying Governor Ned Lamont to continue state funding for their services in his next state budget proposal.
The advocates for the disabled launched the effort at the state Legislative Office Building in Hartford on Thursday.
“Governor Lamont, please do not cut any of the home and community-based services that help people like us,” Lauren Traceski of Canton, a disability advocate, said.
Traceski and her husband Scott have intellectual disabilities but live independently and have jobs.
That’s because of the state’s Medicaid-funded community-based services, she said.
“Without those services, we would most likely be unemployed and living with our parents,” she said.
Lamont’s office is currently preparing his proposal for the state’s next biennial budget. He’s to present the proposal to lawmakers in February.
About 58% of the $4.5 billion the state spent on Medicaid long-term care in fiscal year 2024 went to home and community-based services.
State leaders have also committed to spending more than $1 billion a year to keep long-term elder care residents on Medicaid in their homes.
