CT GOP senators encouraged by Comptroller Scanlon’s Association Health Plan endorsement

For Immediate Release

Senate Republican Leader Stephen Harding and Sen. Tony Hwang, Ranking Senator on the Insurance and Real Estate Committee, and Sen. Jeff Gordon, who is a medical doctor, today issued the following statement regarding State Comptroller Sean Scanlon’s public support of Association Health Plans/Employer Health Benefit Consortiums legislation.

“We are encouraged to hear one of Connecticut’s top constitutional officers voicing support for this legislation and stating that ‘the state needs this’. The bill nearly made it to the finish line last year. We were disappointed that the legislation stalled, because it had widespread bipartisan, and bicameral support. We hope that 2024 is the year this common sense legislation becomes reality.

The small group insurance market in this state is broken.

Only a few carriers remain active in this market. Rates have sharply increased in recent years. Small businesses have been clamoring for a new, creative approach to insuring their employees. By allowing small businesses to group together under the umbrella of a trade association, those groups can pool both resources and risks. Groups like the Connecticut State Medical Society, Associated Builders and Contractors, Connecticut Association of REALTORS, and the Connecticut Non-Profit Alliance, to name just a few. These groups will be able to create large self-insured health plans for their employees, dramatically reducing costs. These plans would offer high-quality health insurance subject to the same state and federal rules, regulations, and coverage mandates as fully-insured plans, but at significantly lower cost than is currently available in the small-group market. And this can all be accomplished without any public funds or taxpayer liability.”