Comptroller Unveils 2025 Healthcare Cabinet Report

On Wednesday, January 22, Connecticut Comptroller Sean Scanlon unveiled the 2025 Comptroller’s Healthcare Cabinet Report at the second collective meeting of the cabinet’s members.  The summit convened lawmakers, healthcare advocates, and hospital leaders to discuss legislative recommendations outlined in the report and to be presented to the legislature.

The Comptroller’s Healthcare Cabinet, established in 2023, is tasked with exploring policy solutions and implementation strategies to improve healthcare delivery and address disparities facing key demographic groups across the state.  The cabinet’s eight subcommittees — comprising hospital leaders and practitioners, healthcare advocates and organizations, and state policymakers — are united under a shared mission to enhance healthcare affordability, access, and equity.

In a press release, the Connecticut Hospital Association (CHA) applauded continued collaboration and the cabinet’s efforts to “address disparities, mental health, women and children’s health, rural and urban healthcare, and to support the healthcare workforce  through proposals that would increase access to workforce training, reduce barriers to education, and enhance recruitment in high-demand fields.”

“The 2025 Healthcare Cabinet Report is more than just policy ideas — it’s a roadmap to meaningful change,” Scanlon said.  “This year’s report builds on our progress to address Connecticut’s biggest healthcare challenges.”

Scanlon announced the cabinet’s top priority is increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates.  During a panel discussion with Public Health Committee Co-Chairs State Representative Cristin McCarthy Vahey and Senator Saud Anwar, Human Services Committee Co-Chair Representative Jillian Gilchrest, and Insurance and Real Estate Committee Co-Chair Representative Kerry Wood, the legislators universally acknowledged that raising Medicaid reimbursement rates is receiving bipartisan support.

“We need to be bold, be brave, and truly invest in this system of care in the state,” Gilchrest said of the Medicaid program.

“We appreciate Comptroller Scanlon’s commitment to tackling this issue as a top priority,” CHA said in a statement regarding the focus on Medicaid reimbursement proposals.  

During the panel discussion at the summit, lawmakers also agreed the state’s Certificate of Need (CON) process requires reform.

“We know that we need to have a system that provides for the efficiency and effectiveness that our providers need,” said McCarthy-Vahey, noting she is hopeful the legislature will make progress on streamlining the CON process this session, striking the balance between removing roadblocks and building safeguards.

When asked how the legislature can invest in healthcare beyond the two-year budget cycle, the panelists pointed to sustained funding for upstream, root-cause drivers of health, particularly stable housing.  They also emphasized that equitable access to preventive care and community-based services is fundamental to long-term improvement.

“If you were to look at the state as one patient, the people who are unwell with their health is a symptom of the illness of the state,” Anwar remarked.  “What are we doing for the people who are living in very difficult and desperate situations?  If we start to change the priorities and start to invest with a steady hand going forward, this is solvable.”

Additional proposals in the cabinet report include:

• Strengthening fertility care coverage laws
• Providing funding to incentivize and support care coordination
• Implementing a publicly available insurance plan scorecard for mental health parity
• Establishing scholarships for students pursuing healthcare careers

The eight subcommittees are focused on: Workforce, Children’s Health, LGBTQIA+ Health, Mental Health, Urban Healthcare: Affordability and Accessibility, Urban Healthcare: Equity and Disparities, Rural Healthcare, and Women’s Health.  Subcommittee members include representatives from Connecticut hospitals and health systems across disciplines.

Connecticut hospitals and health systems look forward to continuing to work on solutions with Comptroller Scanlon and state lawmakers and leaders who are deeply dedicated to building a healthier future for Connecticut’s caregivers, patients, and communities.

Click here to watch the full summit recorded by CT-N.

Click here to read the 2025 Healthcare Cabinet Report.

Click here to read the 2024 Healthcare Cabinet Report.