You asked whether the law allowing personal care assistants (PCAs) to buy health insurance through the Municipal Employees Health Insurance Program (MEHIP) has been implemented and what the premiums are.

The Comptroller’s Office is ready to accept applications for MEHIP coverage from PCAs who are members of a PCA association, but so far no one has applied. If PCAs want to apply, they should contact Tom Riley at MEHIP at (860) 723-5751 or 1-800-572-7891.

Premium rate information is apparently not available yet, but the rates will be age and gender-specific, according to Riley. Since the PCAs are supposed to be rated as individuals for premium purposes and no one has asked for a rate assessment yet, there is no information on what premium rates will be, according to Terence Tulloch-Reid, legislative liaison for the Comptroller’s Office.

Legislation in 2003 gave PCAs hired directly by elderly or disabled people under certain state programs an opportunity to buy health insurance through a plan run by the comptroller. Specifically, it allowed the comptroller to provide coverage under MEHIP for members of a PCA

association. The association must be composed of PCAs employed by participants in the Connecticut Home Care Program for the Elderly, Personal Care Assistance Program (for people with physical disabilities), independent living centers (for people with mental or physical disabilities), or the Acquired Brain Injury Program.

For PCAs to participate in MEHIP, the following requirements apply: (1) participation is voluntary, (2) the state does not pay administrative costs, and (3) no employees can be refused entry to the plan because of past or future health care costs or claim experience. The comptroller can offer the association insurance that is either fully underwritten or on a risk-pool basis (CGS PA 03-3, §§ 31 & 32, June 30 Special Session).

HN: dw