Connecticut added ABA for HUSKY B in 2025 and raised its base 97153 rate to $14.00 in 2026, but pays analysts under H codes. See how it compares.
Key Takeaways
- HUSKY B children lacked an ABA benefit: Connecticut’s ASD services were limited to HUSKY A, C and D until the 2025 budget funded coverage and DSS extended every ASD service to HUSKY B on October 1, 2025.
- DSS added codes and raised rates: Parent training and case management joined the ASD fee schedule in July 2025, and a retroactive January 2026 increase lifted the base 97153 rate 15 percent to $14.00.
- Technician pay trails New England: Per MediRate, Connecticut’s $14.00 rate for 97153 is the lowest of the four New England states in the comparison and ranks fifth of six overall.
- Coding decisions are coming: Connecticut pays analyst services under H codes rather than 97155, and the 2027 CPT changes and a new state ABA advisory committee will test that structure.
Connecticut’s Medicaid program now pays for applied behavior analysis (ABA) for members under 21 in every HUSKY Health program. In an important message to providers issued in November 2025, the Department of Social Services (DSS) said that all autism spectrum disorder (ASD) services covered under HUSKY A, C and D became available under HUSKY B, the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program, on October 1, 2025.
The expansion capped a year in which the same coverage was cut from a bill for lack of funding and then restored in the state budget. DSS also added parent training codes in July 2025 and raised its ASD fee schedule rates retroactive to January 1, 2026, lifting technician-delivered treatment under CPT 97153 to $14.00 per 15-minute unit. One thing did not change. Connecticut still pays for most Board Certified Behavior Analyst services with HCPCS H codes instead of CPT 97155, the code each of its neighbors in this comparison uses for analyst-delivered treatment with protocol modification.
How HUSKY B Gained ABA Coverage in Connecticut
HB 7109, raised in the 2025 session, would have directed DSS to increase Medicaid rates for Board Certified Behavior Analysts, cover ABA under HUSKY B and pay for caregiver training. DSS Commissioner Andrea Barton Reeves told legislators that ABA was already covered within the state’s autism services and estimated that HUSKY B coverage would cost about $3.7 million, $1.3 million of it in state funds, according to the Human Services Committee’s joint favorable report. The Office of Fiscal Analysis estimated that about 624 of the 22,292 children then enrolled in HUSKY B would qualify.
In May 2025, the Appropriations Committee deleted that section because its budget did not include the money. The funding returned in the biennial budget. The Office of Policy and Management lists $1.3 million in state funds to make ABA available under HUSKY B among the DSS expansions in the adopted budget, Public Act 25-168. DSS put the coverage into effect October 1, and HUSKY B services follow the same prior authorization requirements as the rest of the ASD benefit.
The authorization system followed later. In a February 6, 2026 provider alert, Carelon said it had finished updating its system to accept HUSKY B authorization requests and that providers could seek retrospective authorization back to October 1, 2025. The alert also reminded providers that HUSKY B requests need a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation on file, plus a letter from a current treating provider confirming the diagnosis if the evaluation is more than 12 months old.
That leaves Connecticut ahead of states such as Iowa, where children covered by the state’s CHIP program still have no ABA benefit. Other parts of HB 7109 moved in the November 2025 special session. Public Act 25-3 raises the age limit for required private insurance coverage of autism behavioral therapy from under 21 to under 26, effective January 1, 2027, and creates a 27-member advisory committee to recommend a statutory and regulatory framework for ABA providers serving children, including providers enrolled in Medicaid.
What Connecticut Medicaid Pays for ABA
Connecticut pays for ABA through its Autism Spectrum Disorder fee schedule. Technician-delivered treatment bills under 97153 at $14.00 per 15-minute unit, or $56 an hour. Group treatment led by a qualified professional under 97158 pays $3.08 per unit.
Analyst work runs on HCPCS codes. A 2021 provider alert from Carelon Behavioral Health of Connecticut, the administrative services organization that authorizes ASD services, illustrated the mapping with a sample authorization: H0046 for observation and direction and H2014 for direct treatment delivered by a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. The fee schedule itself labels H0046 only as mental health services not otherwise specified. H0046 pays $22.00 per 15-minute unit in MediRate’s data, or $88 an hour. H2014 pays $15.24, or $60.96 an hour, about 9 percent more than the technician rate for an hour of the same direct treatment.
Assessment and planning are priced differently. Under DSS’s July 2025 bulletin, behavior assessment under H0031 is billed by the hour and pays $87.98 an hour; plan of care development under H0032 pays $87.98 per untimed unit, and program book development under H0032 with the TS modifier pays $60.70. The same bulletin added parent training under 97156, which pays $21.20 per unit, and case management under T1016, which pays $11.33 per unit for attending school planning and placement team meetings and discharge planning. Both are limited to Board Certified Behavior Analysts and certain licensed clinicians, not technicians.
Today’s rates reflect two increases. In July 2024, DSS added a rate type to carry higher behavioral health rates for HUSKY members 20 and under, and that schedule has paid $14.00 for 97153 since. Commissioner Reeves told legislators that DSS had used $7 million in state funds in 2024 for behavioral health rate increases, with priority given to a code on the ASD schedule. A March 2026 bulletin then raised select behavioral health rates retroactive to January 1, 2026, which brought the base ASD rates to the same levels: 97153 rose 15 percent from $12.17, and the H codes rose about 4 percent. The bulletin does not say how the change was funded.
Who Can Deliver ABA Under HUSKY Health
Connecticut covers ASD services for members under 21 through the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment benefit. Services require prior authorization from Carelon, with limited exceptions such as the first 96 units of case management each year, and every provider must be qualified by Carelon before billing. DSS’s November message stressed that a Connecticut behavioral health license does not by itself qualify a clinician; providers must show relevant ASD experience and hold a qualification letter. Board Certified Behavior Analysts need state licensure to enroll and must re-enroll every two years, according to Carelon. Behavior analysts still have no interstate licensure compact, as Acuity has reported, so clinicians who work across state lines need a license in each state that requires one.
State regulations hold the supervising clinician responsible for every technician. Supervision must be one-on-one, must equal at least 10 percent of the technician’s treatment hours with each member and must include regular direct observation of sessions.
A separate program sits alongside the HUSKY benefit, with its own fee schedules for service providers and fiscal intermediaries. The DSS Waiver for Persons with Autism provides home and community-based services, including clinical behavioral supports, to people with autism who do not have an intellectual disability, capped at $50,000 a year per participant. Unlike the HUSKY ASD benefit, the waiver is not an entitlement, so access depends on available funding and program capacity. Its rates are not part of the comparison below.
Where Connecticut’s ABA Rates Land Among Its Neighbors
Figure 1: CPT 97153 (adaptive behavior treatment by protocol, technician-delivered) Medicaid rate per 15-minute unit, Connecticut and neighboring states. New York reflects its rate for services on or after October 1, 2026. Source: MediRate.
On 97153, Connecticut’s $14.00 trails New Hampshire at $17.79, Massachusetts at $16.37, and Vermont and New Jersey at $15.00. Only New York, at $9.63, pays less. Among the four New England states in the comparison, Connecticut pays the least for technician time.
Connecticut does not appear in MediRate’s comparison of analyst rates because it does not reimburse 97155. For context, its neighbors pay between $16.43 and $49.35 per unit for 97155, and New Jersey pays $21.25. Connecticut’s $22.00 rate for observation and direction under H0046 covers a similar service, but the codes are not interchangeable. MediRate maintains the underlying rate detail for state Medicaid programs across the country.
What Comes Next for Connecticut ABA Providers
Coding is the open question. HB 7109 as raised would have required DSS to standardize Medicaid ABA codes to match those used by commercial insurers and other states’ Medicaid programs, but that language fell with the rest of the bill’s first section. As Acuity has reported, the 2027 CPT adaptive behavior code set splits 97155 and adds new codes, so states that already price 97155 must set rates for its replacements. Connecticut, which never adopted 97155, faces a different choice: whether to keep its H codes for analyst work or move those services onto the new CPT codes.
Coverage boundaries are shifting as well. The private insurance mandate extends to age 26 on January 1, 2027, while HUSKY ASD services remain limited to members under 21. The new advisory committee will weigh how the state oversees ABA providers. Federal scrutiny is rising too: CMS released a State Medicaid and CHIP ABA Toolkit on August 4, 2026, citing a 421 percent increase in Medicaid and CHIP ABA spending from 2021 to 2025. Acuity has examined the toolkit’s diagnosis guidance.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Connecticut Medicaid pay for ABA in 2026?
The ASD fee schedule pays $14.00 per 15-minute unit for technician-delivered treatment under 97153. Analyst services bill under HCPCS codes: $22.00 per 15-minute unit for observation and direction under H0046, $15.24 for analyst-delivered treatment under H2014 and $87.98 an hour for behavior assessment under H0031. Parent training under 97156 pays $21.20 per unit.
Does HUSKY B cover ABA?
Yes. Since October 1, 2025, all ASD services covered under HUSKY A, C and D are also covered under HUSKY B, with the same prior authorization requirements. Carelon began accepting HUSKY B authorization requests by February 6, 2026, and allows retrospective authorization back to October 1, 2025. The adopted biennial budget included $1.3 million in state funds for the change.
Why doesn’t Connecticut use CPT 97155?
Connecticut’s ASD fee schedule does not list 97155. Analyst observation and direction bills under H0046 and analyst-delivered treatment under H2014. A 2025 bill would have required DSS to standardize ABA codes with commercial insurers and other states, but that provision was removed in committee.
Who can provide ABA under HUSKY Health?
Providers must be enrolled in Connecticut Medicaid and qualified by Carelon, which requires documented ASD experience. Board Certified Behavior Analysts need state licensure to enroll. Technicians deliver treatment under a supervising clinician who must provide one-on-one supervision equal to at least 10 percent of their treatment hours.
How do Connecticut’s ABA rates compare with neighboring states?
Per MediRate, Connecticut’s $14.00 rate for 97153 ranks fifth of six Northeast states, ahead of New York’s $9.63 and behind New Hampshire’s $17.79. It is the lowest of the four New England states in the comparison.
Sources: MediRate; Connecticut Department of Social Services, Autism Spectrum Disorder fee schedule (January 1, 2026), Provider Bulletins 2025-30, 2025-57 and 2026-06, Important Message on HUSKY B ASD services (November 2025), and Fee Schedule Instructions, Tables 1 and 2; Provider Manual Chapter 7 and Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies sections 17b-262-1051 to 17b-262-1065; Carelon Behavioral Health of Connecticut provider resources and Provider Alerts 2021-05 and 2026-01; Connecticut General Assembly, HB 7109 (2025) bill text, committee reports and fiscal note; Office of Legislative Research summary of Public Act 25-3, November 2025 Special Session; DSS Waiver for Persons with Autism program page; Office of Policy and Management, FY 2027 midterm budget presentation (February 4, 2026); Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (August 4, 2026); prior Acuity Media Network reporting.
