HARTFORD, CT – Early childhood educators will be getting some much-needed help with the high costs of health insurance.
The chairs of the Early Childhood Education Endowment Advisory Board were joined by early childhood educators and representatives from Access Health CT to announce the Early Childhood Educator Insurance Subsidy Program, which will provide $10 million in subsidies to help early childhood educators purchase health insurance in 2027.
The funds come from the Early Childhood Education Endowment. The subsidies will become available Oct. 23 through the Access Health CT exchange. Applicants are eligible for subsidies between $1,000 and $1,200.
“One of the things we have learned is how much child care matters,” said Rep. Kate Farrar, D-West Hartford, one of the advisory board’s tri-chairs. “It matters to the child to get that greatest start in life, it matters to families to have a trusted caregiver, and it matters for businesses and our economy. But our child care system cannot work without dedicated workers like our child care educators are. And unfortunately, too many of them are not valued with the pay and benefits that they deserve.”
According to research conducted by the advisory board, between 18% and 20% of early childhood educators are uninsured.
Sen. Ceci Maher, a Wilton Democrat who is one of three board chairs, said early childhood educators are “literally at the front line” of every illness children bring with them into the classroom, exposing themselves by caring for and playing with the children.
“How can we not provide this care for them when if they’re not available to take care of our children, we lose our entire work infrastructure?” she asked.
Maria Amado, who owns the Green World Family Child Care Home in Hartford, called the subsidy a real victory after 10 years of pushing for more help.
“Is it everything that we need? No, it is not,” she said, speaking through a translator. “But it is a great start and a great victory because we also know that when it comes to the folks who care for the children, we should be asking, ‘Do we care for them?’”
Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said the subsidy would help the critical workers who mold young minds, and echoed other speakers as she drew attention to the protracted process for providing support to early childhood education workers.
“I think it took way too long because this is a pink-collar, female-dominated profession,” she said. “And sadly, so many critical types of work that women do, whether it’s K-12 education, or it’s early childhood education, or it’s healthcare and nursing, have traditionally been way undervalued.”
Connecticut Office of Early Childhood Commissioner Elena Trueworthy said the subsidy is part of a multipronged effort to support educators, including pay increases, scholarship programs, and apprenticeships.
“The health insurance subsidy is a key component and strategy to this approach,” she said. “We need to strengthen the whole early childhood system with our holistic support and making sure that those targeted strategies reach those who really need it most, which is our early childhood professionals.”
Susan Rich Bye, director of legal and governmental affairs at Access Health CT, said the subsidies will help between 7,200 and 8,000 individuals in their first year. The subsidy will function in addition to any other assistance educators are receiving.
The subsidy comes at a time when health insurance costs continue to rise. According to KFF, a nonpartisan healthcare policy nonprofit, Connecticut ranks among the most expensive states in the country when it comes to health insurance premiums. State regulators recently approved double-digit increases for both individual and small-group insurance rates for 2027.