Healthcare clash emerges on CT campaign trail. Businesses say it’s the biggest issue in the state

Hartford Courant – Thursday, September 24, 2026
By Christopher Keating

Despite years of efforts, the skyrocketing costs of healthcare have risen to the point that both the state and federal governments have been unable to fully solve it.

In Connecticut, a recent business survey showed that healthcare is now the number one problem that business leaders want the state legislature to tackle in 2027 — rather than taxes, regulations, education, or other issues.

Gov. Ned Lamont took a step on a narrow slice of a much broader problem in a healthcare system that costs more than $5 trillion nationally and also impacts hospitals, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Lamont is focused on helping small businesses with 50 or fewer employees through a new state tax credit of $1,000 per employee per year. That would represent a maximum of $50,000 as an incentive for small businesses to provide health insurance, which would help in recruiting new employees. The arrangement is made through Access Health CT, which is the state’s insurance marketplace.

Lamont concedes that the measure represents one aspect of the overall healthcare situation. At the same time, state officials led by comptroller Sean Scanlon have been studying Lamont’s idea for a “Connecticut option” that would create a broader pool with the goal of reducing costs.

The group is expected to release its recommendations before the next regular legislative session starts in January, and the idea would include reaching a solution with the state legislature by the time the session ends in early June 2027.

Republicans in the legislature and some business owners have pushed for a change in the law to promote association health plans for trade groups and small businesses as a means to control costs. By contrast Lamont is pushing for his “Connecticut option,” which would be different from the government-operated “public option” that has been touted by some nationally.

“Look, I’m generally supportive,” Lamont said of association health plans. “I just don’t think they’re thinking big enough. I want small businesses to pool alongside others, so they have a lot more purchasing power. That’s how you bring down rates 30% for small business and state employees and our taxpayers. … It would probably save people a lot of money because the differential in hospitals can be 50% between the expensive hospitals and the less-expensive ones.”

Patients could be directed to the UConn Health center’s John Dempsey Hospital in Farmington as a way to save money.

“Perhaps UConn Health will be an anchor tenant, and we’ll build from there,” Lamont said.

Healthcare coverage remains a struggle for many Americans as the Trump administration announced this week that more than 750,000 people had been removed from the insurance marketplaces of the Affordable Care Act. The administration charged that some recipients were not real people and others had received subsidies without being qualified for them.

Lamont highlighted the tax credit by visiting a start-up business in Hartford and drew parallels to its owner, TJ Noel-Sullivan of the Hartford Film Company on Arbor Street. The 4-year-old company makes documentaries, 30-second commercials, and 5-minute videos for websites. Noel-Sullivan was named Connecticut’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year for 2026 by the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Connecticut Business & Industry Association.

Turning to Noel-Sullivan, Lamont said, “About 40 years ago, I was just like you — starting up a business. I had just gotten married. I was working for a multi-billion-dollar cable company and then I said, ‘I’m going to start my own thing up.’ … The big guys can negotiate with insurance companies. We can’t. So we ended up paying a premium. I was competing with Verizon and big guys. I had to provide good, comparable healthcare or I wasn’t going to be able to keep the folks we had working for us.”

Referring to a health benefit by its initials, Lamont added, “I wish we had ICHRA in my day. Or even an association health plan — ways that I could be part of a bigger pool that allows me to get some leverage when it comes to negotiating.”

The tax credit was approved by the Democratic-controlled legislature as part of the two-year state budget in a huge document known as Senate Bill 1. The measure passed by 30-6 in the Senate as the 11-member Republican caucus was split with six against and five in favor.

State Sen. Jeff Gordon, a Woodstock Republican who is also a practicing physician, said the measure will be helpful at a time of rising healthcare costs.

“State government just passed double-digit annual health insurance increases, yet again, so any measure to address these unsustainable hikes is welcome,” Gordon said. “We must continue to work on health insurance affordability issues, and the common sense Association Health Plans, which have had significant bipartisan support, would be a great place to start.”
Fazio skeptical

Republican gubernatorial nominee Ryan Fazio of Greenwich, who voted against the state budget that included the tax credit, told The Courant recently that Lamont has made little progress on healthcare.

“The governor has been in charge of the state for eight years, and his own insurance department has approved rate increases of 17% and 11% in the last two years in individual health insurance premiums,” Fazio said. “This man will not take responsibility for his own record of unaffordability in this state. I do have a plan that will increase choice in health insurance and increase competition in the healthcare space and reduce costs.”

Fazio added, “The governor has refused to support it. So real reform that is bipartisan has been left on the shelf amidst rising healthcare costs because of the governor’s unwillingness and failure of leadership, and that’s what matters to Connecticut residents – results. … He has done a horrible job on affordability as it pertains to healthcare, among other things.

“That is not my conjecture. Those are the facts. The Kaiser Foundation saying that Connecticut’s health insurance premiums are 40% more than the national average is a fact. He has failed to deliver affordability.”

Fazio said he will release his own healthcare plan “in the not-too-distant future.”

But state tax commissioner Mark Boughton, who is a former Republican candidate for governor and former Danbury mayor, said the tax credit will be crucial for some companies.

“This could be the tipping point for a small business,” Boughton said. “A lot of states are kicking the tires on this. This governor did it.”

Connecticut was among the few states helping to cover the loss of federal health insurance subsidies by earmarking millions of dollars to soften the blow for more than 150,000 Connecticut residents. Previously, the subsidies had made health care more affordable with enhanced federal credits since 2021.

Unlike more than 20 million Americans across the country who saw government subsidies for health insurance cut off this year on New Year’s Day, Connecticut residents received relief with state-subsidized health insurance.

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