By Russell R. Barksdale, Ph.D.
For thousands of Connecticut families, the end of the year brings a familiar anxiety, one that has little to do with holiday shopping and everything to do with the family budget. It is the dread of opening the letter that details next year’s health insurance premiums. This year, that anxiety is particularly acute, as the rising costs of utilities and rent pale in comparison to the shocking escalation in medical insurance premiums. While media reports have highlighted individual crises, the systemic nature of the problem has so far only garnered shortsighted recommendations.
Consider the case of one Connecticut couple in their 50s, who reportedly face a premium hike from $670 a month to over $2,600—a nearly 300% increase. This is not an isolated incident. The harsh reality is that federal subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) have artificially masked a fundamental truth: under the cover of the ACA, and at great expense to employers and taxpayers, the underlying cost of healthcare has gone unchecked, becoming unaffordable for most families.
In response, our leaders in both Hartford and Washington have sprung into action. Governor Ned Lamont announced a plan to use $70 million in state emergency funds to soften the blow, while our U.S. Senators fight to extend the very federal subsidies that are disappearing. Respectfully, while these actions may be well-intentioned, they share a fundamental flaw. They are temporary, reactive measures that fail to address the primary symptom—unaffordable insurance—while completely ignoring the disease: the unsustainable, ever-increasing cost of healthcare itself.
Nowhere is this policy disconnect more apparent than in the predicament of a full-time, minimum-wage worker in our state. In 2026, Connecticut’s minimum wage will be $16.94 an hour, translating to an annual income of about $35,235. While promoted as a step toward a living wage, this income creates a painful healthcare paradox. It is too high to qualify for HUSKY Health (Medicaid), which cuts off eligibility for a single adult at $21,597 a year, yet it is often insufficient to comfortably afford a plan on the ACA marketplace. This “Medicaid gap,” an unintended consequence of policies seeking headlines rather than holistic solutions, traps thousands of our state’s hardest-working residents. They earn too much for public assistance but too little to handle the full brunt of private insurance costs.
The business of providing healthcare is increasingly about cost-shifting—billing commercial insurance plans more to cover below-cost reimbursements from government payers and the uncompensated care of the uninsured. Pharmaceutical drugs costing more in the U.S. than other countries—cost-shifting. With a shrinking commercial payer base, this model forces dramatic rate increases onto the insured population. The state’s plan is an insufficient and unsustainable shield against this reality. The push for federal subsidies is merely a continuation of a national strategy that fails to ask the most important question: how do we change the trajectory of healthcare costs?
To understand why these policies are not viable long-term, we must look past the premium and at the price of the services it covers. The real conversation, one absent from candid public debate, is about why a hospital stay, a routine procedure, or a life-saving drug costs what it does. Over the last two decades, prices in the healthcare sector have grown faster than in almost any other part of the economy. This is fueled by rampant consolidation, with over 1,500 hospital mergers since 1998 creating regional systems that can dictate prices. These mergers are often a defensive response to inadequate commercial insurance payments and rising operational costs, creating a vicious cycle of consolidation and price hikes.
These are not political issues; they are structural economic problems. They are not solved by writing a check, whether from Hartford or Washington. A subsidy does not negotiate down the price of an MRI. A one-year state grant does not reduce healthcare costs; it just masks them for another election cycle.
As long as our policy debate remains fixated on who pays the premium, rather than why the premium is so high, we will remain trapped. A lasting solution will not come from more subsidies, but from the courage to tackle the root causes of higher costs. It requires a new, apolitical conversation about promoting competition, provider independence, and ensuring the price of care is fair and justified. Connecticut families deserve more than a temporary reprieve from a problem guaranteed to return. They deserve a system where coverage is affordable because the care itself is affordable. It is time to respectfully demand we stop adding buckets to catch the leaks and start fixing the roof.
Russell R. Barksdale, Jr., PHD, MPA/MHA, FACHE President and CEO Waveny LifeCare Network
