HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The federal health care law is providing both challenges and opportunities for Connecticut lawmakers as they spend the coming weeks trying to reach a state budget compromise with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
The two-year, $43.8 billion proposal unveiled by the Democratic governor last week includes millions of dollars in health care spending needed to comply with the Affordable Care Act. But it also relies on millions of dollars in savings that the law generates.
The law "creates a great deal of change in our budget," acknowledged Ben Barnes, secretary of the Office of Policy and Management and Malloy's budget chief.
Medicaid costs are one of the leading drivers of spending growth in Malloy's budget, which increases spending by 5.1 percent in the first year and 3.9 percent in the second, Barnes said. About $382 million is spent on caseload growth in human services agencies and changes under the health care law. That includes expanding Medicaid eligibility to more people and increasing Medicaid reimbursements paid to primary care physicians. While the state must foot the bill up front, it eventually will be reimbursed 100 percent by the federal government.
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