Box on state tax form connects thousands with health insurance

HARTFORD -- By checking off a box on their state income tax form, tens of thousands of residents received information on insurance through Access Health CT and many signed up for coverage, said state officials who believe the assistance will be even more important next due to uncertain federal health care funding.

The change on the tax form could have "life-changing" results when it comes to health-care coverage, said Peter Hadler, deputy commissioner of the state Department of Social Services.

In all, more than 64,000 tax filers checked the box. Of those, 6,000 people in nearly 1,900 households obtained coverage through Access Health CT, while more than 2,833 changed their insurance programs, according to initial data.

"There's still a lot of confusion out there," Hadler said. "Many people don't know what they qualify for and can feel overwhelmed trying to make sense of all the options, acronyms and coverage terms that they're bombarded with, especially during stressful moments like losing a job, aging out of parental coverage or facing a health crisis."

The addition to the tax form was part of the state's 2023 budget and allowed the Department of Revenue Services to share information with the state's federally subsidized insurance marketplace.

In addition, 12,000 people updated their health information through Access Health CT.

"It's a big deal for our agency," said Mark Boughton, commissioner of revenue services, noting that his staff had to develop new tax forms.

"Our new mission now is to go where the people are, to interface with them," Boughton said. "Connect them not just to paying your taxes, but to other core services that you or your family might need." Other plans will be aimed at giving the state better information on peoples' needs, he said.

In all, "56% of that was from single filers, which is really important because that is a cohort of people that don't always have access or think about having access to health care until it's too late," Boughton said. Also, 83% of those "were below $125,000 in their adjusted gross income, again a cohort of people that struggle to get access to health care."

James Michel, the CEO of Access Health CT, said the goal is to lower the number of uninsured state residents.

State Sen. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, co-chairman of the legislative Human Services Committee, called the statistics "rare good news" at a time of planned federal cuts as part of President Donald Trump's budget for the federal fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.

"There are lots of folks out there who do qualify either for HUSKY, our state's Medicaid program that benefits about one in three residents, or for subsidized coverage through Access Health CT and don't know it," Lesser said during a Thursday news conference in the State Capitol complex. "They've been going uninsured or underinsured, losing benefits they are entitled to under the law."

While state officials have been focusing on the upcoming changes to Medicaid and supplemental nutrition programs, Lesser said, taxpayers might not be aware of other potential benefits and rules governing Access Health CT, the state's Affordable Care Act agency.

"We have to do what Connecticut does best," Lesser said, "which is be creative, be scrappy. Try to figure out what we can do best to position our state to serve our residents."