SENATE PRESIDENT MARTIN LOONEY COMMENT ON INSURANCE DEPARTMENT RATE HIKES FOR 220,000 CONNECTICUT RESIDENTS

Senate President Martin Looney (D-New Haven) issued the following statement today in response to the Connecticut Insurance Department announcing on Friday, September 11, 2026, its final rate decisions for 2027 that affect 220,000 Connecticut residents who are insured on the Access Health CT health insurance exchange. Following extensive actuarial analysis, the Department approved an average increase of 11.3% in the individual market and 15.1% in the small group market, compared with initial insurance company requests of 16.2% and 17.8%, respectively.

“Despite granting smaller increases than requested, the rates approved by the Insurance Department are still too high, and part of that has to do with Donald Trump and Republicans ending health insurance subsidies for so many Connecticut residents. The Insurance Department even says so in its rationale for the rate hikes: the expiration of enhanced federal subsidies in the individual market is going to lead to ‘increased morbidity’ in Connecticut, and the consumer marketplace for these policies is going to shrink as some of the 220,000 healthier members in Access Health Connecticut are going to drop their coverage because it’s getting too expensive. Thankfully, Democrats and Governor Lamont stepped in late last year and provided some premium assistance that hopefully has made a difference for some people. But it’s not the complete answer.

“Earlier this month, I submitted testimony before the Insurance Department and said I share the public’s frustration with the insurance companies’ performance because they’re yet again requesting another double-digit rate increase that vastly exceeds standard inflation rates as well as Connecticut’s own benchmark target. It’s unclear to me why these insurance companies can’t do a better job of negotiating rates. The insurers, the hospitals, and the pharmacy benefit managers all point at each other for the premium rate increases, but they take no responsibility themselves.

“I do know that the so-called Association Health Plans that some people keep talking about are not the answer and merely act as a red herring in the debate on reforming health care in America. They are not even technically insurance plans. My main concern is that they do not offer all of the consumer protections of the Affordable Care Act, and that one employee with high health care costs, such as undergoing chemotherapy, could drive up premiums for the employer’s entire plan. This could create an incentive for employers to not hire — or fire — high-cost employees, driving them back into the open market and into Access Health CT.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Lawrence Cook | lawrence.cook@cga.ct.gov | 860-604-9279

Senator Looney: Private Equity Has No Place in Public Safety

Fire departments across Connecticut are stripping safety equipment from new trucks and stretching aging engines years past schedule because a consolidated fire apparatus industry has pushed costs and wait times to record highs, as CT Insider reported this week. Today, Senate President Martin Looney (D-New Haven) denounced the private equity consolidation driving the crisis and argued that such firms should have no role in any industry that determines public health or public safety.

Three companies, REV Group, Oshkosh Corporation’s Pierce Manufacturing, and Rosenbauer, now control most of the market, a concentration that a bipartisan congressional resolution filed in July traces largely to the serial acquisition of independent manufacturers by private equity firms. Over the past decade, the price of a pumper truck has roughly doubled to nearly $1 million and a ladder truck has climbed toward $2 million, while delivery times have stretched from one or two years to more than four.

“We have seen what happens when private equity takes over an essential public service, and in the General Assembly we refused to accept it in our hospitals and nursing homes,” said Senate President Martin Looney. “Prospect stripped three Connecticut hospitals for profit and walked away in bankruptcy, and the same playbook is now driving up the cost of fire protection and putting firefighters and residents at risk. Private equity has no legitimate role in any enterprise whose purpose is public health or public safety, because the drive to extract the highest possible return can never be reconciled with the duty to keep people alive and safe. Our towns and fire districts do not have to face this alone, and I believe they have a real opportunity to meet this moment together, pooling their purchasing power and sharing resources across municipal lines so that our communities, and not distant investors, set the terms.”

Senate Democrats have recently taken on private equity, in a field where lives are equally at stake. Under private equity ownership, Prospect Medical Holdings cut services and nearly destroyed three of the state’s hospitals in Waterbury, Manchester, and Rockville before declaring bankruptcy in 2025 and leaving thousands of patients without proper care. In response, Senate Democrats passed Public Act 26-22, barring hospitals from the sale-leaseback deals private equity favors and requiring them to attest each year that no private equity entity controls the hospital or its clinical decisions, along with Public Act 26-103, which tightens ownership and financial disclosure requirements for for-profit investment in nursing homes.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Kevin Coughlin | kevin.coughlin@cga.ct.gov | 203-710-0193