SB977 requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) commissioner to cover bariatric surgery and specified medical services for Medicaid and HUSKY B beneficiaries with obesity under certain circumstances. Under the act, these medical services include FDA-approved prescription drugs for outpatient treatment of obesity and nutritional counseling from a registered dietitian-nutritionist. Bariatric surgery is a procedure that makes changes to the digestive system to help a patient with obesity lose weight.
The Connecticut State Senate passed SB977 on May 16, 2023 by a vote of 30 to 5. We have assigned pluses to the nays because neither healthcare nor social welfare is the legitimate object of government. Healthcare “entitlement programs” not only causes more debt, poverty, and government dependency in the United States, but continue the anti-constitutional and discriminatory act of income-based taxpayer theft, which deprives hardworking American citizens of their right to the wages they have earned. The Bill of Rights and 14th Amendment were intended to safeguard against undue disparagements of a person’s “property” and provide “equal protection of the laws” for all Americans.