Connecticut Governor Rell Joins Legal Challenge Against President Bush on Children’s Health Insurance

October 4, 2007 -- Connecticut Governor M. Jodi today announced that the State of Connecticut will be filing an amicus brief in connection with a lawsuit against the federal government’s plans to impose restrictions on the popular State Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as HUSKY B in Connecticut.

Governor Rell authorized Connecticut to join a coalition of states supporting litigation spearheaded by New York Governor Eliot Spitzer on behalf of New York and other states to challenge states’ flexibility to bring health coverage to moderate-income children.

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“The State Children’s Health Insurance Program has been extremely successful in reducing the number of uninsured children nationally and in Connecticut,” Governor Rell said. “Thousands of Connecticut’s children rely on the HUSKY program as their primary source of health benefits. We need to protect those benefits and our children. We need to keep SCHIP strong for the working families of all states.”

Governor Spitzer’s office noted that the legal action was triggered when the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) arbitrarily imposed new rules that block states from expanding their children’s health insurance programs. Plantiffs in the lawsuit are New York, New Jersey, Washington, Illinois and Massachusetts.

Filers of amicus briefs in support of the lawsuit are Connecticut, California, Arizona, New Hampshire and New Mexico.

The lawsuit will specifically challenge the rules that conflict with the SCHIP statute and were issued without an opportunity for public comment as required by the federal Administrative Procedures Act, Governor Spitzer’s office said. The states are seeking a court ruling declaring those rules to be unlawful and prohibiting the federal government from applying the rules when reviewing individual state plans submitted under SCHIP.

In Connecticut, about 17,000 children are receiving health coverage through SCHIP. Governor Rell has consistently supported the reauthorization of SCHIP and flexibility for states to implement the most effective programs on behalf of children.

Source: Connecticut Governor