Officials at the Connecticut Department of Social Services (DSS) and Gov. Ned Lamont’s office have decided not to submit a petition to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) seeking to allow the state to enter a contract with a drug manufacturer to produce a generic glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1) for individuals enrolled in state healthcare programs, as is required by a law passed in 2025.
A spokesperson for DSS told Inside Investigator that DSS and Lamont office officials discussed the status of the project with “several key stakeholders” but ultimately informed those stakeholders, whom they did not identify, that they would not be making a request from DHHS.
In 2025, Connecticut legislators passed a first-in-the-nation law enabling state officials to enter a contract with a manufacturer of a generic GLP-1 drug. These would then be offered to HUSKY Health members. HB 7192 implemented a number of recommendations from the Bipartisan Drug Task Force, including a proposal to potentially have Connecticut government officials direct funding to manufacture their own generic GLP-1 medication for use by those enrolled in state healthcare programs.
The law requires the commissioner of the Department of Social Services (DSS) to petition the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for the government patent use of GLP-1s and contract with a manufacturer to produce a generic version of the drug to supply to HUSKY Health enrollees within 30 days of its passage. Under federal statute, the U.S. government has the right to use patented inventions without permission if it pays the patent holder “reasonable and entire compensation,” usually ten percent or less of sales.
If granted by DHHS officials, HB 7192 would effectively give the state the same permission, also requiring the payment of production costs. While Lamont signed the bill into law, at the time, he expressed concern that it could be an overreach of the federal statute.
Should DHHS officials grant the state permission to enter into a contract with a manufacturer to produce a generic GLP-1, HB 7192 also gives the DSS commissioner permission to enter into a consortium with other states to enter into a contract with a manufacturer.
However, despite the law’s requirement that DSS petition DHHS, that has not happened.
“DSS understood and appreciated the intent of the public act; encouraging federal exploration of methods to promote lower cost GLP-1 medications to combat diabetes and obesity among our Medicaid members. However, the administration was concerned that this provision, while well-intentioned, sought to have DSS advocate for a potential expansion of federal law that may be beyond the law’s envisioned intent.” DSS spokesperson Jalmar De Dios told Inside Investigator in a statement. “Accordingly, the agency and Office of the Governor ultimately determined that submitting formal correspondence to HHS advocating for such expansion of federal law was not likely to be an effective mechanism by which the federal government would take action to lower the cost GLP-1 medications for our members.”
De Dios added that the federal government could invoke its statutory authority if it felt it would be appropriate to address concerns about the cost of GLP-1 medication.
“Both DSS and the Office of the Governor were transparent about the challenges and realistic about the likelihood of the petition’s success, and DSS was keenly aware that its limited resources were going to be necessary to respond to the changing and challenging federal landscape as a result of HR 1 and other federal action to impose barriers to the provision of public benefits. Ultimately, stakeholders were informed that the administration would not be further pursuing the pathway of a formal request to HHS.” De Dios added.
Lamont’s office did not return a request for comment about when the decision not to petition DHHS was made, what stakeholders were involved in that discussion, or whether the governor had any concern that the decision means DSS is not complying with the law.
Sen. Matt Lesser’s office also did not return a request for comment about whether legislators were made aware DSS and Lamont had determined not to petition DHHS as required by HB 7192. HB 7192 was a committee bill brought forward by the Human Services Committee, which Lesser co-chairs. The bill also incorporated recommendations made by the Bipartisan Prescription Drug Task Force, of which Lesser was a member.
The task force’s final report mentioned march-in rights, which in federal statute gives a federal agency the right to grant a third-party a license to a patented product if it was developed with federally supported funds for research and development from that agency.
“Some policymakers see high prescription drug prices as an accessibility issue and are urging federal action to use march-in rights for GLP-1 medications developed with federal funds, which are commonly prescribed for diabetes and weight management. If successful, this could compel manufacturers to lower prices or allow third-party production. However, the federal government has historically been reluctant to exercise these rights and industry opposition remains strong.” the task force’s February 2025 final report states.
According to the Congressional Research Service, march-in rights have never been exercised by any federal agency. The report notes that march-in rights, which were part of a federal law passed in 1980, have never been used.
De Dios said that DSS is looking at “alternative options” to make GLP-1s more accessible and financially sustainable. For enrollees in the state health care plan, the cost of GLP-1s has been a particular problem for the state, driving a significant amount of spending and leading Comptroller Sean Scanlon to enroll the state in a telehealth program for weight loss that requires state health plan members to join in order to be prescribed GLP-1s.
Scanlon first enrolled the state in Flyte, an Intellihealth telehealth program that connects patients with doctors and weight-loss experts, in 2023. Though it has been successful in reducing the costs of GLP-1 for the state, it has not come without criticism from private providers whose practices were affected.
According to an evaluation of the program from March 2026 conducted by The Segal Group, between July 2023 and June 2025, 11,567 state employees enrolled in the program, and the state has saved $105 per month for each enrollee. Data also shows lower medical cost trends for healthcare services like emergency room visits, outpatient gastrointestinal services, and professional mental health treatment, as well as slower spending on prescription drugs, GLP-1s included.
Data on state employees taking GLP-1s show the drugs are effective in lowering weight, blood pressure, and body mass index (BMI), all of which help reduce long-term health problems, and lower the state’s healthcare costs in the long run.
But in the short term, prior to the state’s contract with Intellihealth, costs associated with coverage of the drugs for state employees were increasing substantially. Between 2020 and 2023, state spending on GLP-1s rose from $7.7 million to $29.2 million. The comptroller’s office projected costs would increase to anywhere between $34 and $40 million in 2024.
Scanlon enrolled the state in a Flyte Pilot program as a cost-saving measure and later permanently extended the contract after its documented successes in lowering weight, BMI, and blood pressure among state employees enrolled in the program.
Since 2025, Attorney General William Tong has announced a number of enforcement actions as part of a ‘crackdown’ against retailers and certain medical providers like health spas aimed at curbing the sale of what his office has labelled ‘bootleg’ GLP-1 drugs being marketed and sold in the state. Those actions have frequently targeted compounded GLP-1s, as well as those being sold as generic and research grade.
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