Connecticut Gubernatorial Candidates Pitch Competing Health Insurance Agendas
HARTFORD, Conn. //BestWire// - Connecticut’s incumbent Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, and Republican State Sen. Ryan Fazio are aiming to differentiate themselves in the gubernatorial race with competing proposals to lower health insurance costs to address, in part, wider cost-of-living concerns that are weighing heavy with voters nationwide.
The debate over healthcare and insurance costs come as the state is set double digital rate increases for plans both on the and off the state-sponsored exchange increase, the Connecticut Insurance Department said. The higher rates drew criticism from state leadership, including Attorney General William Tong, who said the increases are often backed by “fuzzy math, double-counted costs and unsupported assumptions” (BestWire, June 8, 2026).
Fazio, who represents District 36, said policy discussion often focuses too heavily on insurers and payers without touching on underlying healthcare costs and access.
To improve underlying costs, Fazio said more work is needed to expand the state’s healthcare workforce and enable hospitals, physicians and other care providers to compete more.
“You need to button the healthcare cost curve down, while maintaining a high quality of care," Fazio said. “Traditionally, that means you want more participants competing to provide care to patients. That has not been a sufficient part of the policy debate.”
While Fazio wants more focus on cost drivers, he is pitching several direct health insurance proposals to voters, including changes to Medicaid and expanding the use of association health plans.
Extending association health plans would give organizations more choice in the type of health insurance they purchase, more avenues to pool risk and could reduce premiums by as much as 10% for small businesses, Fazio said.
“That strikes me as a good reform that provides more choice and competition to bend the cost curve down, and we should we should embrace it,” Fazio said.
State lawmakers saw legislation to expand the use of association health plans, but those bills ultimately died despite strong bipartisan support from a majority of legislators, Fazio said. However, Lamont threatened to veto the bill, and it ultimately failed to pass out of committee.
The opposition to the legislation largely came from the belief health insurance should be “directed and regulated, or provided directly by, the government,” Fazio said.
“If not, every insurance policy should be as closely reflective of what government policies have a preference for,” Fazio said. “They (opponents) won’t see this type of insurance as sufficient or exactly to their liking for the general public.”
Fazio is also pitching transitioning Connecticut’s Medicaid program to a managed care model, which would include plan features such as provider networks. Currently, 42 states use some form of an MCO model for their Medicaid programs, according to health policy research KFF.
Previous reports found the change could save Connecticut taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, Fazio said.
“That could ensure that we can provide care at a lower cost through specified providers or specified intermediaries that help us find the savings,” Fazio said.
The switch to an MCO model for Connecticut’s Medicaid program was something Lamont’s administration had floated in the past but were unable to pass into law, Fazio said.
Under an MCO model, Fazio sees private insurers playing a role to help manage plans so long as “they can provide a good service at a reasonable cost to taxpayers.”
While Fazio is pitching several proposals to lower healthcare costs, Lamont’s campaign has pointed to the state lawmaker’s voting record against the Federal Cuts Response Fund.
The legislation, which Lamont signed in February, is designed to offset the loss of enhanced ACA subsidies and reductions in federal funding to state program. It will see an initial infusion of $330 million from the budget reserve fund, according to the legislative record.
Fazio was one of four lawmakers that voted against the new law, Lamont’s campaign said.
“Ryan Fazio had the chance to stand with those families and chose Trump instead, voting for cuts that are now costing them $800 a month,” Lauren Gray, communications director for the Ned Lamont Campaign, said in a statement. "Connecticut families deserve a governor who fights for their healthcare, not one who votes to make it more expensive.”
Lamont’s healthcare pitch focuses on corporations and how their workforce healthcare costs can be shifted onto taxpayers, according to his campaign materials.
The plan would work to close corporate “loopholes” such as franchise structures, shell-ownership arrangements and gig-economy business models, which Lamont said are used by large corporation use to shift healthcare costs.
Lamont’s plan would also require large corporations to pay as much as $1,000 for each of their employees enrolled in HUSKY, the state’s Medicaid program.
In addition, Lamont wants to invest $100 million annually in the state’s Affordable Care Act insurance exchange and the Covered Connecticut program, which offers no-cost health and dental insurance as well as nonemergency medical transportation to all Connecticut residents meeting eligibility requirements.
Lamont’s plan would insulate small businesses from any cost shocks by providing a carve out from the new rules for companies with fewer than 100 employees and nonprofits with fewer than 1,000 employees, Lamont’s campaign said.
“For too long, a handful of massive corporations have padded their profits by paying low wages and offering little to no benefits, forcing their workers onto state public assistance where taxpayers pick up the tab," Lamont said at a past press event. "That’s not just unfair to Connecticut families — it’s unfair to the thousands of responsible local businesses that do the right thing and invest in their workforces.”
The end result of the plan, according to Lamont, would be health insurance premiums lowering by thousands of dollars for policyholders without any new tax burdens on residents or small businesses.
Attempts to gain further comment from Lamont on his insurance-related proposals were unsuccessful.
(By Steve Hallo, senior associate editor, BestWire: Steve.Hallo@ambest.com)