Connecticut’s reputation follows its lawmakers wherever they go. Rep. Kerry Wood, a Democrat from Rocky Hill and co-chair of the legislature’s Insurance and Real Estate Committee, said colleagues across the country raise the same point again and again.
Connecticut carries more health insurance mandates than anywhere else. The price shows up in insurance premiums.
Wood said the state’s long list of required benefits feeds directly into coverage costs. Business groups have argued this for years, warning the burden falls hardest on small employers. Some legislators tried to slow the growth with tighter review rules.
Lawmakers added new requirements during the 2025 session anyway. One mandate now forces coverage of biomarker testing. Another widens autism behavioral therapy coverage, pushing eligibility from under age 21 to under age 26 starting Jan. 1, 2027.
According to a recent report from the Office of Legislative Research, Connecticut now enforces 81 mandated benefits for fully insured commercial plans.
The list runs wide, from accidental ingestion of controlled drugs to Lyme disease treatment and wheelchair repairs. The mandates apply to individual plans, group plans, or both.
That total jumped sharply from earlier counts. A 2014 analysis by the University of Connecticut identified 46 mandates at the time, though methodologies differ.
In 2018, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association placed Connecticut second nationwide. The Connecticut Business & Industry Association said last year the state ranks in the top three and estimated mandates add more than $2,000 to annual premiums.
Wood thinks the number runs higher now. She said the cost tied solely to mandated benefits likely doubled or tripled over the past decade.
She put the figure closer to $5,000 or $6,000 a year before coverage even kicks in. To her, that number borders on absurd.
Wood and Rep. Cara Pavalock-D’Amato, a Republican from Bristol and the committee’s ranking member, said the legislature keeps circling the same fix.
Require real analysis before approving new mandates. House Bill 6895 last year would have done exactly that. It passed the insurance committee 12-1, then stalled in Appropriations.
Pavalock-D’Amato compared the idea to a fiscal note. Show lawmakers the premium impact before they vote. She said numbers change behaviour. Wood agreed, though she wants reviews to reach beyond new mandates and into the existing stack.
The committee asked the state Insurance Department last year to analyse current mandates. Wood said the work remains underway. The department confirmed it received the request and has responses to a request for proposals.
Cost pressure keeps building in the meantime. In September, the Insurance Department approved average rate increases of 16.8% for individual plans and 11% for small-group coverage. About 224,000 residents sit in those markets.
Competition shrank too. Since 2022, Aetna, Cigna/Oscar Health, ConnectiCare, and Harvard Pilgrim HealthCare exited the small-group market. Only Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Oxford Health Plans remain.
Federal support weakened at the same time. Enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies expired, raising fears coverage slips out of reach for many families.
State officials estimate Connecticut stands to lose about $295 mn in federal tax credits. Gov. Ned Lamont said the state plans to pull $70 mn from its rainy day fund to soften the hit.
Employers feel it as well. A December analysis from the State Health Access Data Assistance Center at the University of Minnesota found average annual premiums for employer-sponsored family coverage nationwide reached $24,540 last year, up more than $600.
How much of Connecticut’s increase traces back to mandates remains unresolved. CBIA keeps pressing the issue. Policy director Grace Brangwynne said mandate reviews rank high on the group’s agenda and backed cost-benefit estimates tied to each proposal.
Wood pointed to another factor driving premiums. State assessments on insurers. Connecticut collects over $100 mn a year through fees funding the Insurance Department and other programs.
Wood said those charges alone add thousands of dollars annually to premiums.
She said a working group studied the assessments and produced recommendations. The legislature ignored them. A bill to act on the findings died in committee last year.
Add assessments to mandates, Wood said, and many residents already sit priced out of coverage. As the short legislative session opens Feb. 4, she said the goal isn’t sweeping reform. It’s restraint. Don’t pile on more costs.
