Riccardi: The Real Reason Childcare Costs Keep Rising

By Denise Ricciardi, NH Journal

This year in New Hampshire, we passed a law to tackle a part of the childcare crisis most people never hear about or talk about, but one that’s been quietly driving up costs and forcing providers to close.

It’s not staffing. It’s not demand.

It’s the cost — and in some cases the complete lack — of liability insurance.

I’ve heard from providers across our state who are doing everything right but still feel like they’re one insurance premium increase away from closing their doors. And when that happens, it’s not just a business that disappears, it’s jobs that disappear, and it’s families who are left without options.

That work is what recently brought me to Washington, D.C., where I was invited to join a national policy roundtable hosted by the U.S. Administration for Children and Families. State legislative leaders from across the country are starting to recognize what we’ve seen here in New Hampshire: If we don’t address this issue, childcare will become more expensive and less accessible.

As your senator, I’ve always believed that good policy starts with listening, bringing people together, identifying what’s really driving a problem, and then solving the problem together.

That’s exactly what we did.

This year, I led a bipartisan effort to pass SB 614, which allows childcare providers, foster homes, and behavioral health organizations to come together and form self-insurance pools. In simple terms, it gives providers a way to share risk, lower costs, and have more stable and predictable coverage without jeopardizing strong oversight.

It’s a straightforward solution to a complicated problem, and it came directly from conversations I had with people living it every day.

For too long, providers have been getting squeezed from all sides. Insurance premiums have been constantly going up, sometimes doubling or even tripling in a short period of time. And in too many cases, insurance coverage hasn’t been available at all.

Childcare providers care deeply about the families they serve. They have spent years building trust in their communities, but now are facing difficult economic decisions. One provider told me she was just days away from closing after losing coverage. Even with a strong safety record, she was being priced out of the market. Her message to me was blunt: Even if you can find insurance, you’ll pay more than your business can afford.

That’s not a system that’s working — not for providers or for families.

And when those childcare providers close, the effects are immediate. Parents are forced to cut back hours at work, turn down jobs, or leave the workforce altogether. For too many families, especially working moms, balancing work around childcare is already too hard.

If we’re serious about making childcare more affordable and more accessible, we have to look beyond the headlines and political finger-pointing and address the underlying costs that are pushing the system to its limits.

Because childcare isn’t just a family issue, it’s a community issue, and what makes it possible for families and businesses to work, grow, and plan for the future.

In New Hampshire, we are leading. We’re focusing on practical, workable solutions and getting real results. And that’s exactly what I’ll keep doing: bringing people together, solving problems, and focusing on what matters most to the families I serve.

State Sen. Denise Ricciardi lives in Bedford and represents District 9. She wrote this for NHJournal.com.

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.