Business Leaders Stand Against Proposed Health Insurance Tax

Local business leaders, led by the Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA), called on state officials today to halt a new health insurance tax proposal from the General Assembly (SB 842) and Governor Ned Lamont (HB 6447). The tax would significantly raise health insurance costs for any worker or family who gets their health coverage through a business based in the state of Connecticut or through the fully insured marketplace.

“Connecticut businesses have been among the hardest hit during COVID-19. I am proud to be able to still employ and provide health insurance for our 25 workers, but this proposed tax is another financial burden that my business cannot afford,” said Steve Fradianni, who owns M&S Paving & Sealing in South Windsor. “If our Governor and state assembly members keep hitting us with burdening taxes, especially after the year we have had, it will be harder to keep our doors open.”

Not only would the proposed tax increase costs for working-class families, local businesses, and their employees – jeopardizing their health insurance coverage as the state works to recover from the pandemic – but the tax would also increase health insurance costs for labor unions, creating new uncertainty for workers whose unions have carefully negotiated their hard-earned health care benefits.

Joan Nichols, Executive Director for the Connecticut Farm Bureau noted, “Our state policymakers need to understand that this tax will make health insurance more expensive for so many Connecticut families – despite explaining they want to make health care more affordable.” She also commented, “With additional insurance costs, Connecticut businesses will have a harder time increasing operations, supporting their employees, and helping our state to bounce back from COVID-19. We cannot punish our local businesses with another tax.”

Among those hit by the new proposed tax would be Connecticut grocers, which have been an essential lifeline to local residents and families in the pandemic. “When COVID-19 hit nearly a year ago, families across Connecticut were asking the basic question of, ‘Can I get the food and supplies I need to survive day to day?’” remarked Wayne Pesce, President of the Connecticut Food Association. “Now our state wants to tax the health insurance that grocery workers rely on every day to stay healthy and show up to work? I hope our leaders will reconsider.”

At the press conference, state business leaders called on Governor Lamont and the General Assembly to cease further consideration of the proposed tax and acknowledge the negative efforts it would have on local businesses and working-class families in the middle of a public health and economic crisis.