Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JUNE 2, 2025 19 FOCUS | EMPLOYEE HE ALTH & WELLNES S www.linkedin.com/company/hai-group www.facebook.com/HAIGroupCT Learn more! www.haigroup.com/careers 2 0 2 5 B E S T P L A C E S T O W O R K HAI Group is one of Hartford Business Journal's We're growing our Underwriting team: OPEN POSITION Full-time | Cheshire, CT Underwriter OPEN POSITION Full-time | Cheshire, CT Full-time | Cheshire, CT Senior Underwriter Brangwynne said. "My question is, is the onus to enroll in these health plans going to be on the employer to help their employees navigate this space, or is it going to be up to the employees themselves?" CBIA President and CEO Chris DiPentima said ICHRAs also remove the employer from the relationship between the employee and the insurer, which could increase insurance costs. "Right now, employers are working with employees to try to bend the cost curve," he said. "So, how do you bring down the cost of care? … Now it's just the employee out there on their own. So, are they going to think about what's the lowest-cost MRI? What's the best choice for getting a certain procedure at the best value? No, they're just going to pay the deductible or their co-pay." In addition, DiPentima said, the exchange is heavily subsidized, "which means we, as taxpayers, are paying for it." Observers also note there are tax implications with ICHRAs for employees or employers. Employers, for example, can deduct ICHRA contributions as a business expense, reducing their taxable income. 'Unsustainable' increases Whether anything can be done to lure carriers back to Connecticut's small group market remains to be seen. DiPentima is not optimistic. "Until you get to the cost of care, we're just going to continue to have increases — whether you're on an ICHRA, fully funded, self-insured — you're going to have increases year over year that are unsustainable," he said. He and Brangwynne both pointed to legislation (Senate Bill 11) being debated during the current legislative session that would only make employer health insurance more expensive. Essentially the bill, among other things, would require employers offering self-funded health plans to cover more of the costs of benefit claims (up to $250,000 instead of the current $20,000 level) before stop-loss insurance kicks in. Branwynne noted that, "half of the state right now uses or provides self-funded health plans to their employees." "Policy drives behavior," DiPentima added, "and SB 11 is going to drive a behavior that will continue this 'death spiral,' where fewer and fewer busi- nesses will offer health insurance." Sen. Matthew Lesser (D-Bridgeport), co-chair of the legislature's Human Services Committee, which raised SB 11, spoke in defense of the bill, saying one reason carriers have left the small group insurance market is that so many businesses now self-insure. "When you self-insure, you're not in the market," he said. "So, that is part of the death spiral that we've experi- enced in small group coverage." Lesser believes the legislature must address the issue. "We have to find a series of 'carrots' and other policy solutions to keep them from exiting the small group market, because the fewer people that are in it, the more expensive it gets," he said. "So, you've got to get folks back in." Some states, like Massachusetts, Lesser added, "have merged the individual and small group market to try to create some additional mass. We could do that." 2018 200K 150K 100K 50K 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 COVERED LIVES Source: CT Dept. of Insurance FULLY INSURED SMALL GROUP HEALTH PLAN ENROLLEES IN CT

• Cover