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Connecticut Expands Program To Serve Medically Fragile Children

HARTFORD, Conn. – The Katie Beckett Waiver, a Connecticut Medicaid program for medically fragile children, will help 100 more families care for their children at home instead of a hospital, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy recently announced.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy recently announced an expansion of the Katie Beckett Waiver, a health program for medically fragile children.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy recently announced an expansion of the Katie Beckett Waiver, a health program for medically fragile children.

Photo Credit: Gov.Ct.Gov

The program is designed to help people under the age of 22 whose family income is too high to qualify for Medicaid.

Malloy’s initiative adds $1.5 million to the program in fiscal 2015. The additional funding will grow to $3 million when fully annualized, with half paid by the federal government, according to a press release.

“I am proud that the General Assembly approved my proposal to expand this crucial service for families caring for children with significant disabilities,” Malloy said in a press release. “In Connecticut, we are ready to increase participation by 50 percent to a total of 300 children and young adults.”

The program was named after an Iowa child who left the hospital for home in the 1980s.

“The young people served by this waiver program are eligible to utilize home health services under the Medicaid state plan, like all other Medicaid recipients,” said Roderick L. Bremby, commissioner of the state Department of Social Services. “They also have access to all of the other same services under the Medicaid state plan, as all recipients do. In most cases, these services are provided at no additional cost to the families.

"In addition to Medicaid, the families also receive case management that helps enhance the Medicaid package of services.”

The Katie Beckett waiver also may help families that have exhausted private insurance options for covering these services or those who never had them available.

Because the program has a capped appropriation, there is a waiting list. The DSS staff has begun contacting families on the waiting list to advise them on future steps toward qualifying for the program. 

For more information about the Katie Beckett Waiver program, click here

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