CT Disability Advocates Urge Lamont to Protect Home Care Funding
Disability rights advocates gathered in Hartford on Thursday to press the Lamont administration to protect funding for Medicaid Home and Community Based Services, including Community First Choice (CFC), a program that lets qualifying individuals direct their own in-home care. Advocates said they fear funding cuts could resurface in Lamont's budget next year, after a proposal during the 2026 legislative session that threatened to end CFC was ultimately abandoned. Separately, earlier this year Lamont had proposed transitioning CFC users to home- and community-based "waiver" programs, which advocates say are less flexible and often have long waiting lists; the source does not say whether that proposal was also abandoned. More than a dozen disability, aging, mental health and civil rights organizations joined self-advocates at the event, urging support for all Medicaid HCBS programs, not just CFC. Lamont's proposed budget is not expected until early next year.