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Connecticut, like other states, launched an online health exchange -- Access Health CT -- where residents can shop for and purchase health insurance. There could be new opportunities for the unemployed or uninsured to receive health insurance. Here, we gather our coverage of changes under the new federal law.

Medicaid Is 50 and Looking Good

LaDawna Howard
/
Creative Commons

Fifty years ago, President Lyndon Johnson waged a war on poverty  to rebuild America as a “Great Society” where “no child will go unfed, and no youngster will go unschooled.” 

Medicaid was enacted in 1965 as part of sweeping legislation to provide food, education, healthcare and jobs to millions in poverty.  Once a benefit for poor single parents and their kids, Medicaid now covers mental illness, disabilities, the elderly and most recently, millions of the previously uninsured through Obamacare.

Unfortunately, Medicaid still suffers from the stigma of its reputation as a poor program for poor people, rarely earning respect from the middle-class or support from politicians looking to cut programs they think no one will complain about.

But, Medicaid has endured and grown. It now covers 25% of the population and 40% of children - including nearly 750,000 people in Connecticut. 

Today,  Medicaid is 50 and coming into its prime!

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John Dankosky is the host of Where We Live. Catie Talarski was today's technical producer.

Betsy started as an intern at WNPR in 2011 after earning a Master's Degree in American and Museum Studies from Trinity College. She served as the Senior Producer for 'The Colin McEnroe Show' for several years before stepping down in 2021 and returning to her previous career as a registered nurse. She still produces shows with Colin and the team when her schedule allows.

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