2005 Connecticut Code - Sec. 17b-255. (Formerly Sec. 17-12gg). Insurance assistance for people with AIDS. Managed care insurance program for persons with AIDS.

      Sec. 17b-255. (Formerly Sec. 17-12gg). Insurance assistance for people with AIDS. Managed care insurance program for persons with AIDS. (a) There is established, in the Department of Social Services, a program to provide insurance assistance for people with AIDS. Under the program the state shall pay insurance premiums for persons with AIDS-related disease who, without such assistance, would be unable to obtain health insurance coverage through an employer. To qualify for assistance a person shall have a family income less than two hundred per cent of the federal poverty level, shall have less than ten thousand dollars in cash assets and shall have health insurance which may be continued upon termination of employment of the applicant, the applicant's spouse or the applicant's parent. Insurance premiums and medical expenses for which the applicant has no coverage, which are incurred in the month of application, shall be deducted from gross income for the purpose of determining income eligibility for the program. Eligibility shall be periodically redetermined and any uncovered medical expenses incurred in the month of redetermination shall be deducted from gross income in determining continued eligibility for the program. An applicant for assistance shall document the risk of losing health insurance and submit a physician's statement that the applicant has an AIDS-related disease.

      (b) The Commissioner of Social Services shall adopt regulations, in accordance with chapter 54, to implement the provisions of this section, which shall include the establishment of (1) higher income eligibility limits for applicants with dependents; (2) an application process for the program, including application forms; and (3) a procedure by which the insurance premiums of participants in the program shall be paid.

      (c) Except as otherwise specified in this section, the insurance assistance for people with AIDS program shall be operated in a manner consistent with the Medicaid program.

      (d) The Department of Social Services shall investigate the purchasing of a managed care insurance program in lieu of the issuance of individual policies.

      (P.A. 90-318; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 91-8, S. 5, 63; P.A. 93-262, S. 1, 87; P.A. 95-269, S. 1.)

      History: June Sp. Sess. P.A. 91-8 added a new Subsec. (c) requiring that AIDS pilot program be operated in a manner consistent with the Medicaid program; P.A. 93-262 authorized substitution of commissioner and department of social services for commissioner and department of income maintenance, effective July 1, 1993; Sec. 17-12gg transferred to Sec. 17b-255 in 1995; P.A. 95-269 amended Subsec. (a) to make "pilot" program permanent, to replace reference to persons "unable to continue working" who may lose health insurance with persons "who, without such assistance, would be unable to obtain health insurance coverage through an employer", to broaden the eligibility and income requirements and to make certain technical corrections for accuracy, deleted reference to "pilot" program in Subsec. (c) and added a new Subsec. (d) re purchase of managed care insurance program in lieu of the issuance of individual policies.