As Connecticut prepares for the 2026 legislative session, healthcare policy will take center stage. This special series from CTHealthNews.com features leading state policymakers outlining their top healthcare priorities for the year ahead. These insights offer a direct window into the public sector’s role in addressing cost, access, equity, and innovation across Connecticut’s healthcare system.
We continue the series with State Representative Nicole Klarides-Ditria who serves as Ranking Member of the legislature's Public Health Committee. Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria has represented Connecticut’s 105th District - Beacon Falls, Seymour, and part of Derby - since 2016. For the 2025–2026 session, in addition to her role as Ranking Member of the Public Health Committee, she holds seats on the Finance and Regulation Review Committees. A Caucus Whip and lifelong Seymour resident, her public service is rooted in values learned from her Greek immigrant grandparents, who founded Klarides Supermarkets. A former Deputy First Selectman of Seymour, Klarides-Ditria is also a Quinnipiac University graduate and certified athletic trainer at Lauralton Hall High School. She helps manage her family’s business properties and is a member of the Works Hellenic Inter Parliamentary Association. From 2016–2020, she served alongside her sister, Themis Klarides - the first sisters in CT House history.
As the Ranking Member of the legislature's Public Health Committee, I am pleased to note that the legislature made great strides forward this past session and I expect even more going into the 2026 session, even though it is the "short session" and time is always a concern.
I'm proud of the foundations we strengthened during the last legislative session, unfortunately, we did not accomplish everything we set out to do, but making investments in the state's long term healthcare goals is a long process and change comes incrementally over time.
This year, the legislature overwhelmingly passed a bill promoting greater prescription drug availability and lower prices with recommendations from the bipartisan Prescription Drug Task Force. Public Act 25-167 mandates that Prescription Benefits Managers (PBMs) deal fairly with health carriers and health benefit plan sponsors, and requires PBMs to offer health plans the option of charging the same price for prescription drugs as it pays the pharmacy for dispensing the drug, reducing the chance of different reimbursement rates, also known as “spread pricing”. This bill also creates a mechanism to begin the state importation of FDA approved medications from Canadian wholesalers to increase competition in the prescription drug market, which could make many of these drugs less expensive for Connecticut residents.
Additionally, in an effort to expand healthcare opportunities and provide easier access for patients, the House passed a measure to enter Connecticut into the Physician Assistant (PA) Licensure Compact – HB 6835 – which would create a process to authorize licensed PAs in one participating state to practice across state boundaries (including by telehealth) in the other member states. This compact will provide an easier way for trained professionals to support Connecticut's healthcare system and help alleviate shortages and backlogs. While the bill did not pass through the Senate, the compact was included in the final version of the biennial budget.
Funding is also another major concern for the healthcare industry, especially concerning Medicaid rates and reimbursements. In recent years, the state budget has been stretched even tighter due to an increase in services provided and increased enrollment, which also includes the cost for undocumented immigrants in our state. In fact, this year the legislature passed a separate measure, Public Act 25-12, to make budget adjustments to account for massive deficiencies, including $284 million in additional Medicaid costs, $32 million of which is directly tied to providing healthcare to undocumented immigrants. When the governor chose to declare a budget emergency and smash through the constitutionally imposed spending cap to fund this year's increases, he set the stage for very difficult future budget discussions.
Despite these concerns, I remain optimistic that the Public Health Committee will continue to find ways to provide all state residents with easy access to the safest, most effective healthcare providers and services possible.
