Please Call Governor Rell:
"Protect Medicaid Dental Services and the Entire Health Care Safety Net in Final Budget"
General Assembly Restores Regular Adult Dental Services and Other Health Care Cuts in Medicaid Made by the Governor and Passes Budget Along for Rell to Sign
The CT Senate passed a budget yesterday and the CT House approved it today. Democrats paid attention to the 2,335 people in 154 Connecticut towns who sent post cards and countless others who called, e-mailed and came out to a rally last Tuesday to stand up for the importance of oral health care in our state's healthcare safety net. Democratic legislators added back the routine adult dental services and other vital healthcare safety net services threatened by Governor Rell. The Senate voted 19-16 (five votes short of a veto-proof majority) and the CT House came in at 91-48. All Republicans voted against this budget bill. The following 14 Democratic Senators also voted no: Berger, Davis, Drew, Esty, Fawcett,
Fritz, Johnston, Mazurek, Mikutel, Shapiro, Reeves, O'Connor, Mioli,
and Tong.
The budget restores many cuts to fundamental health and human services and includes some tax increases. Click here to see an analysis of the bill including the revenue proposals. (If you want to learn more about the budget, join us this Tuesday at noon for lunch and a very informative analysis. Call 860-246-2644 to RSVP and get details.)
Please call Governor Rell now and tell her that the healthcare safety net is too fundamental to the welfare of Connecticut's people, economy and infrastructure to be cut. Urge her to protect adult dental services in Medicaid and to sign this budget voted out of the General Assembly.
Call Governor Rell NOW with these messages:
1) Please preserve access to basic dental care for children and adults in Medicaid in the biennial budget;
2) I am willing to pay slightly higher taxes to preserve the healthcare safety net for our most vulnerable residents. (This is very important if you agree because the economic recession has led to an unprecedented deficit so that new revenue options must be considered if services are to be preserved.)
Do not wait. Contact Governor Rell at 1-800-406-1527
(or e-mail her at governor.rell@ct.gov).
If you can, please also send a quick e-mail to thank the following legislative leaders for restoring dental services to the budget.
Senate President Pro Tempore Donald Williams
860-240-8600 or 1-800-842-1420
williams@senatedems.ct.gov
Speaker of the House
Representative Chris Donovan
860-240-8500 or 1-800-842-1902
christopher.donovan@cga.ct.gov
Appropriations Committee Co-Chairs:
Deputy President Pro Tempore Senator Toni Harp
(New Haven, West Haven)
860-240-0393 or 1-800-842-1420
harp@senatedems.ct.gov
Representative John Geragosian (New Britain)
860-240-0394 or 1-800-842-8267
john.geragosian@cga.ct.gov
House Majority Leader
Representative Denise Merrill (Chaplin, Mansfield)
860-240-8500 or 1-800-842-8267
denise.merrill@cga.ct.gov
Please forward this alert (see bottom of page) to everyone within
your networks immediately and ask them to contact the Governor early next week.
Please copy COHI on your e-mails and let
us know who you
and your members
call so we can keep track for reporting purposes.
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Connecticut Oral Health Initiative (COHI)
175 Main Street
Hartford, CT 06106
860-246-2644 - Phone
860-246-7744 - Fax
info@ctoralhealth.org
COHI is a broad-based coalition dedicated to
promoting oral health through increased
awareness of its importance and access to quality health services. |
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