Sen. Witkos Applauds General Assembly’s Restoration of Medicare Savings Program Funds

State Senator Kevin Witkos (R-Canton), Deputy Senate Republican President Pro Tempore, released the following statement today regarding the Connecticut General Assembly’s passage of a bipartisan bill that restores funding for the Medicare Savings Program (MSP). Eligibility levels for the MSP were adjusted in the bipartisan budget approved last year. After learning about the vast impact of these funding reductions, lawmakers worked together to restore the funding by making adjustments to the state budget in a bill that was passed by the legislature today.

“I want to thank my colleagues in the legislature for working together to negotiate a plan to restore this funding, despite the governor’s attempts to disrupt our efforts and threats to veto this bill,” said Sen. Witkos. “By making this change, we can bring peace of mind to over 100,000 low income elderly and disabled individuals who have shared their concerns with lawmakers all across the state. Should Governor Malloy veto this bill, we have shown today that there is enough legislative support to override his veto and do what is right for the thousands of seniors and disabled individuals counting on us. I hope that this successful bipartisan effort will continue to guide our efforts to work together to tackle the state deficit and move Connecticut forward in a new direction without further hurting our economy. There is much work to be done.”

To restore the funding for the MSP, lawmakers adopted changes to the state budget including funding reductions for executive appointments, consultant fees, and duplicative human resource functions in state government.