Candelora, Nuccio on Gov. Lamont Announcement of $80m Medicaid Deal

HARTFORD—House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora and State Rep. Tammy Nuccio, House Ranking Member of the Appropriations Committee, released the following statements Wednesday in response to Governor Lamont’s announcement of an agreement to boost Medicaid reimbursement rates for community health centers:

“While I agree with Democrats that Medicaid reimbursement rates are a serious problem in Connecticut, calling today’s announcement ‘historic’ is misleading. They’ve picked winners and losers—prioritizing federally qualified health centers, while hospitals, doctors, dentists, and other providers continue to struggle with inadequate rates. Recognizing the seriousness of the problem, House Republicans proposed more than $137 million to improve Medicaid reimbursement rates across the healthcare system. But the final budget passed by Governor Lamont and legislative Democrats included nowhere near what’s needed to fix the problem,” said Candelora (R-North Branford). “This isn’t historic. It’s not even half a loaf—it’s an eighth of a loaf. Yet Democrats are claiming victory while once again pointing fingers at President Trump, failing to fully acknowledge the depth of the crisis or the fact that they had the power to do something about it—and chose not to. As a result, much of our healthcare system—and the citizens who depend on it—will continue to suffer.”

“It’s disappointing—but not surprising—that the Governor and legislative Democrats are focused on taking shots at Republicans in Washington rather than giving credit where it’s due here in Connecticut. While they’re busy pointing fingers, House Republicans—including myself—were doing the hard work of crafting a responsible state budget that had actually proposed these Medicaid rate increases, and more, months ago. Our budget included rate updates that went beyond what was proposed in budgets put forward by the Governor and the majority, but our proposals were ignored,” said Nuccio (R-Tolland).  “This was our idea that the Governor has now implemented, because we listened to providers and understood the need to support community health centers and school-based care. We brought forward this plan in meetings with the Governor and his staff during session. I’m glad the administration finally came around, but let’s be clear: this agreement wasn’t sparked by political rhetoric—it was driven by Republican leadership and a real plan to strengthen access to care for those who need it most.”