State Senator Christine Cohen welcomed a new Connecticut tax credit designed to help small businesses offer health insurance to their employees, calling it a step toward broader healthcare reform.

Eligible businesses with 50 or fewer employees can receive up to $1,000 per employee annually when they offer an Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA) through Access Health CT's BusinessPlus platform, the state's official health insurance marketplace. The credit is available for the first two consecutive years an employer offers an ICHRA.

Cohen said, "I have owned and operated a small business for nearly 25 years and I know well how expensive it is to provide health insurance for your employees. These tax credits will help ease the burden on small businesses and ensure more workers are properly insured. This is a step in the right direction, but we need to be focused on comprehensive reform and providing a Public Option so that small businesses can protect their employees' health and also remain competitive in employee recruitment and retention."