CoveredCT, a program to provide no-cost health insurance, dental insurance and non-emergency medical transportation to qualified individuals, faces uncertainties in the future as cuts to Medicaid and Affordable Care Act tax credits are set to expire.
CoveredCT’s annual public forum took place on June 5. At the forum, representatives from the Department of Social Services (DSS), as well as other departments and organizations involved in the program, revealed that the program is on track to meet its enrollment goals and is making progress on goals to increase the utilization of dental services. However, not everything is going well. The program is still behind on its goal to get enrollees to utilize non-emergency medical transportation and, like many health care programs in the state, there are major questions about how things will run in the future.
“We know that, with the current administration and the looming cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, that having Covered Connecticut will be more important than ever,” said DSS Commissioner Andrea Barton Reeves. “We will see where things actually land after we see the final bill that comes to the President’s desk and is signed, but in anticipation of that, in anticipation of the number of people who will need health care and access to health care, it is actually a really great thing that our state has this coverage.”
CoveredCT is available to people whose household incomes are 175% of the federal poverty rate or less, but are not eligible for HUSKY insurance. For an individual, that means a maximum income of $26,355, and for a household of three, the maximum income is $45,185.
Participants must be enrolled in a Silver-Level Plan on the Connecticut Health Insurance Exchange, Access Health CT. Once they are enrolled in CoveredCT, they do not have to pay for health insurance, dental insurance or non-emergency medical transportation.
As of June 5, there were 47,045 people enrolled in CoveredCT, according to Jennifer Marsocci of the DSS. The goal is to increase membership to 50,000.
It costs an average of $111 per person every month, according to DSS Principal Cost Analyst Trishan Lakha. The cost of the program is largely covered by membership and enrollment.
Between July 2024 and March 2025, the program had a gross cost of $45 million, according to Lakha. He expects that the cost for the full year of 2026 will be $95 million and increase again to $130 million in 2027.
This estimate assumes that, as requirements for HUSKY A change, enrollment in CoveredCT will increase, as has happened in the past, Lakha said. The estimates assume that enrollment costs will remain the same during this period in the time.
However, there are uncertainties about future costs. The enhanced premium tax credits through the Affordable Care Act are set to expire at the end of the year, which may impact the premiums that this program can cover for its enrollees. However, the exact impacts—if they will happen at all—are unknown.
“At this point we think we know what that number might be and we still have to have discussions with our governor and his office, and the Office of Policy and Management, as to how we would try to cover that difference, and whether there would be greater cost sharing, or if there is some other way that we can try to remain the same coverage under CoveredCT,” said Barton Reeves. “We have the same challenge with Medicaid and with SNAP, so it isn’t just isolated to CoveredCT.”
Despite having an estimate, a lot of things can change. The Connecticut legislature might go into special session this summer, and there might be other meetings between departments. Barton Reeves did not want to put a timeframe on when decisions would be made.
“We’re just waiting to see what is going to happen at the federal level, what the final bill will look like,” Barton Reeves said. “Then we’ll have an opportunity to understand the larger fiscal impact in context and make some decisions about what to do.”
Public comment is open until June 13. Comments can be submitted by email to jennifer.marsocci@ct.gov.
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