Kadeem Roberts

We understand what's going on nationally, but we can't stop doing our jobs for the people of Connecticut and that starts with putting forward good public policy. House and Senate Democratic leaders announced on Tuesday a legislative proposal to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates for providers, which is long overdue. A recent state Medicaid Rate Study found that Connecticut lags well behind peer states when paying providers under Connecticut’s Medicaid program. Many areas of care are currently reimbursed at the same levels they were in 2007.

Increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates is a worthy investment, and that’s the type of good work we’re going to keep doing here.

The House of Representatives was in session on Tuesday. In addition to voting for judicial nominees, we also passed legislation that will enhance survivor benefits for families of state employees killed in the line of duty. 
 
This legislation was inspired by the tragic line-of-duty deaths last year of two Connecticut state employees, including a trooper from the Connecticut State Police and an employee from the Connecticut Department of Transportation. Because of their ages and years of service, neither of those state employees were eligible to receive pensions at the time of their deaths. The change ratified by the legislature today means that both surviving families in those instances will begin receiving survivor benefits, based on their individual eligibility circumstances.
 
Additionally, this change will apply to all future situations in which a state employee who was not eligible to receive a pension is killed in the line of duty.