Chanting “let us live,’’ about three dozen activists came to the state Capitol Wednesday to protest proposed cuts in Medicaid coverage.
They gathered outside the Democratic caucus room, where legislative leaders were negotiating a budget agreement.
Elaine Kolb, a West Haven resident who is 68 and has been living with a spinal cord injury since she was stabbed in the back 40 years ago, said all of the budget proposals currently floating around the Capitol include Medicaid cuts.
Kolb says she has a message for lawmakers: “Don’t kill people while balancing your budget. It’s not just dollars. It’s whether somebody can call an ambulance, it’s whether somebody can get the medication that keeps them alive.”
Budgets proposed by Democrats, Republicans and the governor would all cut Medicaid coverage for tens of thousands of the state’s poorest residents. According to the activists, 9,500 low-income parents would lose access ton the Husky A program, which provides Medicaid for children, teens, parents, relative caregivers and pregnant women.
About 68,000 elderly and disabled residents would lose Medicaid coverage under a program that subsidizes Medicare premiums.
Earlier, the protesters, including a man in a grim reaper costume, confront Gov. Dannel P. Malloy in the cafeteria at the legislative office building. They urged him to raise taxes on the wealthy instead of cutting services for the needy.
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