AN ACT EXPANDING HUSKY HEALTH COVERAGE TO INCOME-ELIGIBLE CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS REGARDLESS OF IMMIGRATION STATUS.

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Marcus Brown and 11 co-sponsors

Expands HUSKY to cover all income-eligible children and young adults regardless of immigration status.

REF. TO JOINT COMM. ON Human Services

Summary — HB 5430

Title: AN ACT EXPANDING HUSKY HEALTH COVERAGE TO INCOME-ELIGIBLE CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS REGARDLESS OF IMMIGRATION STATUS
Bill number: HB 5430
Introduced: March 14, 2025
Status: Referred to Joint Committee on Human Services (with committee activity; see timeline below)
Subject: HUSKY plan; immigration

Purpose

The bill would expand eligibility for Connecticut’s HUSKY health program (the state’s Medicaid/CHIP program) so that income‑eligible children and young adults are eligible for coverage regardless of their immigration status. In short, it aims to remove immigration‑status barriers to HUSKY enrollment for eligible minors and young adults.

Key provisions (as described)

Extend HUSKY eligibility to all income‑eligible children and young adults without regard to immigration status.

Implicitly requires the Department of Social Services (or relevant agency administering HUSKY) to accept applications and enroll qualified individuals regardless of citizenship or immigration classification.

Note: The full bill text was not provided. Specifics such as the income thresholds, the precise age range for “young adults,” enrollment start dates, benefit package changes, and funding/fiscal provisions are not available in the materials supplied.

Who would be affected

Primary beneficiaries: income‑eligible children and young adults who are currently ineligible for HUSKY solely because of their immigration status (e.g., undocumented children/young adults).

Health care providers and safety‑net clinics (likely to see reduced uncompensated care, changes in patient payer mix).

State budget and program administrators (responsible for enrollment, outreach, and paying for services not eligible for federal match).

Local communities and schools (indirectly, via improved access to care).

Potential impacts and considerations

Access: Likely to increase insured rates among affected youth, improving access to preventive and primary care.

Public health: Potential reductions in unmet health needs, emergency care reliance, and communicable disease risks.

Fiscal: Federal Medicaid matching funds generally exclude undocumented noncitizens, so coverage for non‑qualified immigrants may require state‑only funding or alternate financing; the bill could therefore increase state costs unless it includes funding offsets or relies on federal matches for some populations.

Administrative: Requires changes to eligibility verification, application processes, outreach, and protections for immigration‑related privacy concerns.

Legislative status and timeline (selected actions)

2025-01-17: Referred to Joint Committee on Human Services

2025-03-14: Filed/Introduced

2025-04-07: Read first time; Referred to Elections

2025-04-17 & 2025-04-30: Public hearings; testimony recorded

2025-05-01: Reported favorably as substituted by committee

2025-05-05: Committee report filed/sent to Calendars

2025-05-12: Placed on General State Calendar

2025-05-16: Laid on the table subject to call

Related legislation

SB 901 (companion)

HB 3786 (companion)

If you want, I can: (1) locate the full bill text to extract age/income/funding details, (2) prepare a fiscal note summary based on typical state cost structures for similar expansions, or (3) compare how other states have implemented comparable coverage for undocumented children.