Juana Pecunia, (at left) speaks through her interpreter, Glenda Wagner, as her doctor listens.

Interpreters: Need Grows But No Funding In CT

Quality health care relies on patients and doctors communicating well, but in Connecticut medical interpretation is not covered by public or private insurance. In 2007 the state extended coverage for face-to-face professional interpreters for all Medicaid patients and estimated its cost at $4.7 million yearly, half of which would be reimbursed by the federal government. But the program has never been funded in the state budget, so none of the services promised under the law have ever been delivered.