Connecticut’s health insurance exchange, Access Health CT, is getting a lot of good press because the website works. But how are we really doing?
Enrollment has been slow. Through the first month and a half, only 7,092 Connecticut residents have bought insurance through the exchange — 2,482 with federal premium subsidies. A new analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that 216,000 Connecticut residents could benefit from exchange coverage — 109,000 with premium subsidies. We aren’t even close.
The big problem is the cost of coverage. Many people are experiencing rate shock as they shop on the exchange. Connecticut’s premiums are higher, on average, than any other state-based exchange. While many state residents will qualify for Medicaid or premium subsidies, thousands don’t and are facing the full share of premiums and other costs. Very few small businesses qualify for subsidies and many are reeling at the expense.
Our exchange premiums are fourth highest in the US, but we are the sixth healthiest state, which should lower our costs. We are one third less likely to smoke than Pennsylvania residents, but our exchange premiums are 48 percent higher. We are one third less likely to be obese than Michigan residents, but we will pay 53 percent more for coverage in our exchange.
Enrollment in former Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s soon-to-be-closed Charter Oak plan to cover the uninsured never topped 15,000. Costs in that plan were similar to the exchange’s plans. It attracted largely older, higher cost members causing an escalation in premiums, which led healthier people to flee the program, creating the death spiral that doomed the program. As in Charter Oak, the exchange’s low enrollment so far is skewed toward older members and missing younger, generally healthier, members to keep costs affordable for everyone.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t have to happen again in Connecticut. There are at least six policy options available to the state that could provide some relief. One of those, active purchasing, was the subject of a bill raised in last year’s legislative session. The bill directed the exchange to negotiate premiums with insurance plans on behalf of consumers as large companies do to keep costs down.
Support authentic, locally owned and operated public service journalism!
Six other states’ exchanges, including Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York, negotiate premiums with insurers, and consumers in those states are paying less for coverage than we do. Connecticut policymakers can revisit the decision to let insurers charge whatever they want and direct the exchange to negotiate affordable premiums. Successful health reform requires affordable coverage; Connecticut policymakers should use all available tools to make that happen.
Ellen Andrews is the executive director of the CT Health Policy Project.
More Health Care News & Analysis

6 Common Barriers Men Face When Seeking Mental Health Support
The outward effects of mental illness can often be dismissed as a sign of weakness or personal failure. For men, this type of social stereotyping can be especially hard to escape — being told to “man up” is a common refrain that can be reductive and stigmatizing.
Keep readingMedical Examining Board Fines Doctor $10,000
The state Medical Examining Board on Tuesday fined an Oxford doctor $10,000 for fraudulently using another doctor’s name and Drug Enforcement Agency registration number to prescribe controlled substances to a family member.
Keep reading
Clinical Trials With Immunotherapy Drugs Are Source Of Hope And Challenges In Treating Aggressive Breast Cancer
Joshalyn Mills of Branford and Nancy Witz of Kensington had the best possible results after being treated in clinical trials with immunotherapy drugs for aggressive breast cancer: Their tumors were eliminated. But while there are dramatic successes with immunotherapy drugs, there are also many failures, and researchers are trying to find out why in hopes…
Keep reading
Coalition of Health Insurers Questions Viability of Connecticut Partnership Plan
Members of Connecticut’s Health Care Future, a coalition of health insurers, hospitals, and businesses, are questioning whether Connecticut lawmakers have done enough this year to protect teachers and municipal employees from increases in health insurance premiums. “Despite repeated bailouts from taxpayers, the Connecticut Partnership Plan continues to be a fiscal Titanic that demonstrates why government-controlled health…
Keep reading
AG’s Tackle Mental Health Parity
Attorneys General in Connecticut and Rhode Island threw their support Monday behind a coalition of mental health advocacy groups asking a federal appeals court to revisit a recent ruling giving insurance companies more flexibility to deny mental health claims.
Keep reading
Budget Green Lights Psychedelic Therapies
Buried in the budget Gov. Ned Lamont signed this week is a provision that would create a pilot program to allow Connecticut to be the first-in-the-nation to study the impact of psychedelic drugs like psilocybin and MDMA on patients with depression and PTSD. The budget now creates a pilot program within the Department of Mental…
Keep reading