Funding for Additional Investigator & Home Care Included in Connecticut’s Proposed Budget

​Connecticut Governor Lamont introduced a two-year budget proposal that would fund an additional special investigator in the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) and add funding for home care waiver services in the Department of Social Services (DSS).

In the second year of the state budget, 2027, DCP would receive about $73,000 for an additional special investigator to support the inspections and enforcement of existing regulations of homemaker companion agencies. This is responsive to the growth of the industry, according to the explanation from the Office of Policy and Management (OPM), which now has over 1,000 agencies, as well as to the legislatively mandated report, which recommended strengthened oversight.
 
Additionally, the governor has proposed providing additional support to waiver and home health providers due to increases in minimum wage. To help ensure provider participation and access to services, the proposal provides funding to support rate increases for home health aides and low-wage workers under the state-funded home care program and DSS’s Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) waivers. This funding will help providers address workforce challenges, according to OPM, particularly as the demand for HCBS has increased due to an aging population and consumer preference to live independently at home. Savings figures reflect the state’s share of Medicaid expenditures. After factoring in the federal share, this proposal will increase total expenditures by $7.8 million in FY 2026 and $18.6 million in FY 2027.
 
At the same time, the governor proposed a reduction in DSS spending by increasing cost-sharing for state-funded home care. Currently, participants in the state-funded home care program are required to pay a flat percentage of their monthly care costs. The required cost share has varied over the years – in FY 2016, it was increased from 7% to 9% but was reduced to 4.5% in FY 2022 and then further reduced to 3% in FY 2023, according to the biennial budget narrative. Under the proposal, the cost share would increase from 3% to 5%, but a monthly cap of $175 is instituted. This change will encourage those with higher needs to take advantage of additional help without incurring more costs while also achieving modest cost savings of approximately $900,000 over two years to the state, according to OPM.
 
The budget would also increase certain Medicaid rates pursuant to the Medicaid provider rate study for certain physician fees, behavioral health services, and to manage complex care needs of dually eligible population, but not HCBS.