In April 2026 the Connecticut Insurance Department sent the legislature’s Insurance and Real Estate Committee its annual parity report. It’s the first report under SB 10, the enforcement law the Coalition helped pass in 2025, and it named every major carrier in the state’s commercial market: Aetna, Anthem, Cigna, ConnectiCare and UnitedHealthcare.
None of the five showed that they manage mental health and substance use benefits the same way they manage medical care. The Department found that all five had behavioral health networks that weren’t comparable to their medical networks, and that four of them submitted incomplete or inaccurate network data. It announced it would fine all five.
The carriers’ own filings show where the gaps are. Anthem’s data show masters-level behavioral health clinicians paid about 75% of Medicare rates, while medical and surgical physicians get about 115%. Cigna pays licensed clinical social workers about 72% of Medicare and orthopedic surgeons about 159%. UnitedHealthcare’s filing says it doesn’t compare wait times or how often providers take new patients across mental health and medical care.
Before SB 10, the most the state could fine an insurer for a parity violation was $15,000 a year. Now it’s $625,000.
Comptroller Sean Scanlon, Attorney General William Tong, Sen. Jorge Cabrera and Sen. Matt Lesser joined the Coalition in responding to the report. “For too long, people seeking mental health care in Connecticut have been navigating a system rigged against them,” said Christian Damiana of Mental Health Connecticut, who leads the Coalition.
What happens next depends on the corrective action plans. The Coalition is pushing for plans that require higher behavioral health reimbursement and networks people can actually get an appointment in, with real consequences for missing the targets.
In the news: Hartford Business Journal · CT by the Numbers · Becker’s Behavioral Health · BenefitsPRO