As part of CT Voices’ series of research reports monitoring the performance of the HUSKY Program, this report looked at births to Connecticut mothers with HUSKY Program or Medicaid coverage in 2010. It compared prenatal care indicators and birth outcomes for births to mothers with publicly-funded coverage to all other in-state births to Connecticut residents. Among the findings:
- The proportion of all Connecticut births covered by the HUSKY Program and fee for service Medicaid continues to increase, from 28.4 percent in 2003 to 38.4 percent in 2010.
- Most Connecticut teens that give birth are covered in the HUSKY Program and Medicaid.
- Mothers in the HUSKY Program and Medicaid are less likely than other Connecticut mothers to get early prenatal care.
- Babies born to mothers in the HUSKY Program and Medicaid are more likely to be preterm and low birthweight, though the low birthweight rate has declined.
- Mothers in the HUSKY Program and Medicaid are more likely to smoke during pregnancy, but the rate has declined dramatically since monitoring began. Treatment of tobacco dependence was not covered in Connecticut’s HUSKY Program or FFS Medicaid until October 2010 when coverage in Medicaid was mandated by the federal Affordable Care Act.
