HARTFORD - House Republican Leader Themis Klarides and state Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria joined their colleagues Monday to restore funding to the Medicare Savings Program.
The program helps more than 100,000 seniors and individuals pay for Medicare co-insurance, deductibles and premiums.
The MSP plan was approved in the House and Senate by veto-proof majorities.
“The House sent a strong message today with its overwhelming support for restoring much-needed resources for more than 100,000 elderly and disabled Connecticut residents who rely on Medicare for their health care needs," Klarides said. "The state’s dire fiscal condition has made this year a challenging one when it comes to balancing the budget and setting priorities, and while there will be difficult decisions in the months ahead, today we were able to provide this group of people a bit of the stability they’ll need to budget for their health-care costs heading into the summer.”
Klarides-Ditria said,“I heard from many seniors and individuals with disabilities that heavily depend on the Medicare Savings Program about the importance of restoring the funding for this program.
“My colleagues and I worked together to find a bipartisan solution to restore the funding this year for MPS. Our mounting fiscal crisis continues to deepen, and as we move forward it is vitally important that we address our fiscal challenges by prioritizing state spending and reforming state government.”
Among the methods used to restore program funding is a requirement that Gov. Dannel Malloy reduce the number of managers and consultants - a provision included in the adopted budget ignored by the governor.
Other components include moving human resources-related functions of some state agencies into the state’s Department of Administrative Services, and requiring the governor to find savings in Executive Branch functions while limiting his ability to cut more than 10 percent from any one program.
The 2018 legislative session - a so-called short session - starts Feb. 7 and will see lawmakers focus primarily on issues tied to the state budget.
This is a press release from Klarides-Ditria's office.
