Last summer, Governor Ned Lamont stood before cameras and made a promise to Connecticut families. “We’re going to enforce this,” he said at the signing of SB 10, Connecticut’s landmark mental health parity law. “We’re going to make sure there is mental health parity… [The Insurance Co mmissioner is] going to enforce this and hold people accountable and make sure our fines are allocated.” It was a moment of rare unity. Eighty percent of state legislators, Democrats and Republicans alike, had voted for the bill. The message was clear: Connecticut would no longer tolerate insurance companies treating mental health care as lesser than physical health care. The state would finally have teeth to match its promises. Comptroller Sean Scanlon speaks in support of the parity bill at a Mental Health Awareness Month press conference. Governor Ned Lamont stands behind him. Credit: Office of the Comptroller Nearly seven months later, as the April 2026 parity report deadline approaches, Connecticut families are waiting to see if that promise will be kept. The gap between promise and action isn’t abstract. It affects 689,000 Connecticut adults who experienced mental health conditions in 2024. It impacts the 77,000 residents who couldn’t see a provider due to cost barriers. It touches every family navigating a system where you’re four times more likely to be forced out-of-network for mental health care than for a visit to your primary care doctor. The tools exist. SB 10 gave the Insurance Commissioner authority to levy fines up to $625,000 per year against insurers who violate parity laws, a forty-fold increase from the previous $15,000 cap. For the first time, Connecticut can impose penalties that insurers will see as a wake-up call, not a rounding error. The evidence exists. A 2024 Office of Health Strategy report found that four of Connecticut’s seven major insurers show warning signs of parity violations. Mental health providers across the state report routine practices that would be unthinkable in physical health care: claims denied without explanation, payments arbitrarily reduced months after services are rendered, reimbursement rates so low that maintaining an in-network practice becomes financially unmanageable. The Governor’s commitment to parity enforcement extends beyond SB 10. This session, he has proposed legislation to restrict insurance “clawbacks,” when insurers retroactively reclaim payments from mental health providers for services already delivered, sometimes years later. These clawbacks are parity violations themselves: mental health providers face arbitrary payment reversals unthinkable in physical health care. The proposed reforms would impose basic accountability measures like shortened recoupment periods and requiring written explanations. Still, clawbacks are just one symptom of a much larger pattern of non-compliance. Connecticut needs comprehensive enforcement, not piecemeal fixes. Comptroller Sean Scanlon, who championed mental health access as a legislator, has made parity enforcement one of his 2026 healthcare priorities. His leadership signals growing recognition that Connecticut consumers deserve the equal access the law guarantees. The question isn’t whether Connecticut should enforce parity laws. The question is why we haven’t already. Credit: Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network Other states aren’t waiting. Delaware levied $450,000 in fines against United Healthcare last September for parity violations. Georgia issued $25 million in parity penalties in January. These states have demonstrated that meaningful enforcement is both legally defensible and administratively feasible. Connecticut has the same authority. It simply hasn’t used it. The stakes have grown even higher in recent months. The Trump administration announced last year it will stop enforcing the federal mental health parity rule, shifting responsibility to states. Connecticut can no longer count on federal backup. State enforcement isn’t just important. It’s now the only enforcement that exists. Psychiatrist Dr. Katherine Kennedy speaks at a press conference in support of the parity bill. Attorney General William Tong and Comptroller Sean Scanlon stand behind her. Credit: House Democrats “Physical health and mental health are one and the same,” Governor Lamont said at the SB 10 signing. “And we’re going to make sure our insurance companies remember that every day.” The April parity report represents the first real test of whether Connecticut will turn those words into action. The Insurance Department will document its findings on insurer compliance, or non-compliance. The question is whether documentation will be followed by accountability. Connecticut families have heard the promises. They’ve seen the bipartisan support. They’ve watched other states act. What they haven’t yet seen is Connecticut using the considerable power it granted itself. “It’s great passing bills,” Governor Lamont acknowledged, “but the bill’s got to be real. The bill’s got to make a difference.” SB 10 can make a difference. But only if Connecticut is willing to enforce it. The authority exists. The Governor himself said enforcement would happen. And 689,000 Connecticut residents are watching to see what choice their state will make. — About the Connecticut Parity Coalition: The Connecticut Parity Coalition is a diverse coalition of mental health advocates, providers, patients, and families working to ensure that mental health and substance use disorder care receive the same insurance coverage as physical health care. The Coalition advocates for strong enforcement of state and federal parity laws to eliminate discriminatory insurance practices. Learn more at paritycoalition.org. ...read more read less