{"id":395666,"date":"2026-01-08T18:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T18:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/395666\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T18:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T18:24:12","slug":"ct-sets-aside-120-million-to-help-residents-with-health-insurance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/395666\/","title":{"rendered":"CT sets aside $120 million to help residents with health insurance"},"content":{"rendered":"

As one of only four states helping to cover the loss of federal health insurance subsidies<\/a>, Connecticut has earmarked $120 million over the next 18 months to soften the blow for more than 150,000 Connecticut residents. That includes about $70 million for the current calendar year as state officials do not know when the issue might be resolved in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump\u2019s administration and the Republican-controlled Congress did not renew the Affordable Care Act subsidies<\/a> that had made health care more affordable with enhanced federal credits since 2021.<\/p>\n

Unlike more than 20 million Americans across the country who saw government\u00a0subsidies for health insurance cut off on New Year\u2019s Day, Connecticut residents can still sign up to get state-subsidized health insurance for at least three more weeks.<\/p>\n

Access Health CT,<\/a> which operates the system in Connecticut, pushed the enrollment date for health and dental plans to Jan. 31, but officials said that deadline could be extended again until the end of February or beyond.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to do everything we can to keep up with the changing landscape down in Washington,\u201d Gov. Ned Lamont told reporters Wednesday at the state Capitol in Hartford. \u201cThe subsidies on the exchange have been on and off. (Congress) thought they had a compromise. Then they didn\u2019t have a compromise.\u201d<\/p>\n

The assistance goes to a wide range of incomes, depending on the size of the family.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor everybody earning up to about $56,000, there\u2019s no out-of-pocket, no cost,\u201d Lamont said. \u201cFamilies earning up to about $128,000, we\u2019ve got your back. Many of you will see your health insurance costs go down. For folks up to about $165,000, we can\u2019t make up for all the loss of the subsidies, but we can make up for about half of that. Rather than paying an extra $1,000 or $2,000 out of pocket per month, it\u2019s going to be a lot less than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the confusion in Washington, the enrollment in Connecticut was actually up by about 3% as of Jan. 2, officials said.<\/p>\n

It was still unclear Wednesday if the state might eventually receive reimbursement in the future to recover the subsidies.<\/p>\n

When asked by The Courant if the overall funding is enough, Lamont responded, \u201cNo, we\u2019re not going to be able to make up all of the federal shortfall forever. But at least we can give people confidence right now that we\u2019ve got your back. You\u2019re probably going to see your rates stay the same or even go down for everybody earning up to about $160,000 per year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides Connecticut, the states offering help on the subsidies are Maryland, California, and New Mexico, officials said.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s acting insurance commissioner, Josh Hershman, delivered a simple message to anyone listening to top state officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet health insurance, please,\u201d Hershman said with Lamont standing nearby. \u201cIf you\u2019re out there today, log on to accesshealthct.com.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Federal level<\/p>\n

The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote as early as Thursday on an extension of the aid.<\/p>\n

\u201cRepublicans failed to advance a three-year extension of the Affordable Care Act subsidies that would keep health care affordable for 26 million Americans and 143,000 Connecticut residents this year,\u201d said U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a key player as ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee. \u201cHowever, thanks to the efforts of House Democrats and a few Republicans, we were able to force a vote on a three-year extension of these desperately needed subsidies. I urge my Republican colleagues to stand with their constituents who are struggling because of the affordability crisis President Trump has intensified.\u201d<\/p>\n

The issue has gained national attention for months.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re fortunate in Connecticut that Governor Lamont has stepped up to cover some of the cost for our most vulnerable residents, and I applaud his efforts to ensure residents of Connecticut do not fall in the gap,\u201d DeLauro said. \u201cBut this is not and cannot be a long-term solution for keeping health care affordable. We must reenact these subsidies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Connecticut'sConnecticut’s Congressional delegation has been seeking increased healthcare subsidies in Washington, D.C. Here, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of New Haven is shown during a press conference at Access Health CT in Hartford in October 2025. U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, Rep. Jim Himes, Access Health CT CEO James Michel, Rep. Jahana Hayes and Rep. John Larson stand behind her. (Shahrzad Rasekh \/ CT Mirror)<\/p>\n

Lamont\u2019s plan, which has been submitted to the legislature after $500 million was set aside for overall social service needs, calls for replacing the expiring premium tax credits \u201cfor residents enrolled in Covered CT, including adjusting the current assessment on total premiums to reimburse carriers for potentially higher utilization in this program through June 30, 2027, in the amount of $64,100,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, the plan also calls for replacing the subsidies \u201cfor individuals between 100% of the federal poverty level (FPL) and 200% FPL who are not on Covered CT and 50% of the lost subsidy for individuals between 400% FPL and 500% FPL during calendar year 2026 in the amount of $50,760,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As one of only four states helping to cover the loss of federal health insurance subsidies, Connecticut has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[191350,191345,1340,2000,191351,20242,15861,191346,191352,82123,15862,97,252,253,191343,191347,983,168221,111910,191344,191348,191349],"class_list":["post-395666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-access-health-ct-ceo-james-michel","tag-affordable-care-act-subsidies","tag-congress","tag-connecticut","tag-connecticut-insurance-interim-commissioner-josh-hershmann","tag-connecticut-news","tag-ct-news","tag-enhanced-federal-credits","tag-federal-poverty-level","tag-gov-ned-lamont","tag-hartford-courant","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-healthcare-subsidies","tag-james-michel","tag-local-news","tag-max-image-preview","tag-new-years-day","tag-president-donald-trumps-administration","tag-state-insurance-commissioner","tag-state-paid-subsidies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}