“Increasing taxes and cutting hospital payments would make healthcare less affordable and less accessible.”
WALLINGFORD – The Connecticut Hospital Association (CHA) released the following statement in response to the Appropriations Committee budget package for the FY 2026 and 2027 biennium released today:
“We appreciate the steadfast collaboration of state lawmakers working with healthcare providers to protect and preserve high-quality healthcare, and we want to raise some significant concerns for lawmakers as they further refine the biennial budget. Increasing taxes and cutting hospital payments, as proposed in this package, would make healthcare less affordable and less accessible for everyone in Connecticut.
“We thank the committee for their efforts to reject more damaging proposals offered by the Governor’s administration earlier this year including harmful out-of-network caps, which would severely hurt healthcare affordability and access, and avoiding additional regulatory burdens that would delay or impede critical healthcare transactions. However, we must emphasize that adopting the administration’s proposed tax increases and payment reductions will result in devastating effects that will worsen financial burdens on hospitals at a time when they are already struggling. These policies, on top of no action to increase Medicaid reimbursement for hospital care, will make it more difficult for hospitals to meet their mission of caring for communities, growing and supporting the healthcare workforce, and investing in innovation to advance quality care.
“While the Governor’s administration has paused discussions with hospitals, we remain committed and eager to continue working together with all policymakers to find solutions to ensure stability in Connecticut’s healthcare delivery system and public health infrastructure and support Medicaid rates that cover the cost of care, without balancing the state budget on the backs of patients.”
