Connecticut officials on Wednesday announced that eligible staff in the early childhood sector can now apply for a subsidy toward health insurance plan premiums, a benefit connected to the ambitious endowment created to expand and make affordable the state’s childcare and preschool network.
The subsidy will provide educators and staff employed by licensed child care centers or operating licensed family child care homes with $1,000 to $1,200 annually toward insurance premiums for plans through the state’s healthcare insurance exchange, Access Health CT. An estimated 7,200 to 8,800 early childcare workers are eligible for the program.
Access Health enrollment will begin Friday and end on Jan. 15, 2027. Coverage starts after Jan. 1.
The $10 million in funding for the healthcare benefit will draw from the Early Childhood Education Endowment, which this year received a more than $400 million infusion. According to the Office of Early Childhood, the fund now contains $735.6 million.
To achieve its vision of affordable, accessible early childhood education, the state is trying to bolster and grow a workforce that’s currently struggling to stay in the profession at all, given low wages.
“We have known for years that our childcare system and especially our childcare educators and staff are really undervalued and that comes to bear when it comes to what their pay is and their benefits,” said Rep. Kate Farrar, D-West Hartford, at a press conference to announce the subsidy. “But our childcare system cannot work without dedicated workers like our childcare educators are, and unfortunately too many of them are not valued with the pay and benefits that they deserve, and that’s why through the endowment we continue to increase provider rates. But this insurance subsidy offers one other way that we can support our educators and staff to access the health insurance that they deserve.”
Sen. Ceci Maher, D-Wilton, said that the subsidy has been a long time coming for providers who are on the frontline of illness.
“Every cold, every flu, and they are on the floor with our children playing, taking care of them, feeding them. How can we not provide this care for them, when if they’re not available to take care our children we lose our entire work infrastructure?” Maher said. “This is so important that we roll this out, that we offer insurance, that we meet the promises that we made to our childcare providers across the state of Connecticut.”
Maria Amado, union president of the Family Childcare Council of Connecticut and owner of Green World Family Childcare Home in Hartford, also said that working in childcare is intrinsically tied to health challenges.
“It is not fair to expect that, because of the work that we do — being prone to get sick — it should be part of our work and that we would need to financially destroy ourselves to be able to seek healthcare,” she said at the press conference. “Over the last 10 years as providers and educators, we have been fighting to obtain healthcare that is an affordable cost. And during those 10 years, we’ve received many excuses. There’s not enough money. Not this year. Just wait another. Wait your turn.”
The subsidy will provide up to $100 a month to subsidize health premiums. But officials say that it’s part of a bigger picture of supports.
Susan Rich-Bye, the director of legal and government affairs for Access Health CT, said that the benefit comes “at a really wonderful time” as a new state tax credit will also be helping some small business offer health insurance. That means some employees may simultaneously receive help from both programs, making the cost savings more significant.
“We encourage customers to take advantage of free enrollment help that we offer online, in person, and over the phone,” Rich-Bye said.
