After reading Jeff Benedict's, "Little Pink House," it occurred to me that the eminent domain case in New London can be likened to the Medicaid estate recovery scheme many state governments have elected to participate in, whereby upon the death of a person who received health insurance through Medicaid plans after turning age 55, such costs would be billed back to the person’s estate after they died.

The more inflated and overstated the costs are, the greater the future recovery will be. The recipients of the services are denied access to their records while they are alive, so that they are unaware of exactly how much their health insurance has cost them and are thus denied their rights to mitigate costs. Upon their death, their property is encumbered with debt that effectively reverts an interest in the real estate back to the state. Families of the deceased, already grieving for the loss of a loved one, are then often left to cope with the loss of a family home as well.

Connecticut, to its credit, reversed its decision to take estate recovery action on low income people over the age of 55 in the year 2014. However, many other states, including my own, still view this outrageous practice as a viable offset to budgetary shortfalls.

Denise Rochon

Springfield, Massachusetts