2006 Legislative Updates:

<Click Here to jump down to Number 1>

NUMBER 24: May 10, 2006 - House: At 11:15 pm Tuesday night, the House voted 88-54 to accept the conference committee report on H.861-Affordable Health Care for Vermonters. This occurred after the Governor and Democratic leadership reached an agreement on how to offer insurance for Catamount Health. The House also passed H.895 (107-31) which embodies the agreement. <more>

NUMBER 23: May 8, 2006 - H. 861: The Health Care Conferees signed their report (an amended H.861) Friday afternoon May 3rd. This was after intense negotiations with the administration over key provisions in H.861. Significantly, the two Republicans (Rep. Topper McFaun and Senator Kevin Mullin) signed the report as did the four Democrats.<more>

NUMBER 22: April 30, 2006 - Let's turn the tables a little and listen to the banter between lobbyists in the Statehouse cafeteria.. <more>

NUMBER 21: April 28, 2006 - The conference committee has been meeting this week to hammer out the differences between the Senate and House versions of H.861 - Health Care Affordability Act for Vermonters. By all accounts the two sides are very close. Less clear is the extent of the negotiations between the conferees and the administration. Here are the items in play:<more>

NUMBER 20:April 21, 2006 - Where are we with health care reform in the legislature? The Senate and House have passed their own versions of H.861 -- the Health Care Affordability Act for Vermonters. The next step is to resolve the differences in the conference committee. <more>

NUMBER 19: April 4, 2006 - The Senate's amendments of H.861 passed Second Reading Thursday afternoon by a wide margin, with only four Republican "No" votes. Nonetheless, the bill's fate is far from clear. <more>

NUMBER 18: April 4, 2006 - The Senate Health and Welfare Committee met on a snowy April 4th afternoon to hear testimony from Steve Kappel (Joint Fiscal Office) and Jim Reardon (Commissioner of Finance and Management, Agency of Administration) to discuss employer sponsored insurance (ESI). Later, Steve Klein (JFO) presented forecasts for Medicaid deficits. Here is some of the testimony: <more>

NUMBER 17: March 27, 2006 - Senate: Tuesday, the Senate Finance and the Health and Welfare Committees reviewed the first draft of their version of H.861 (Health Care Affordability for Vermonters). Major components include: <more>

NUMBER 16: March 20, 2006 - For health care public policy junkies, the first week back, after Town Meeting break, seemed to be in slow motion. There was little progress on H.861. <more>

NUMBER 15: March 17, 2006 - The House debated H.861 -- Health Care Affordability for Vermonters -- for two days, March 2nd and 3rd. During this second day of debate, the Republicans offered several amendments. Here are selected portions of the debate <more>.

NUMBER 14: March 6, 2006 - Listed reverse chronological order. The House debated H.861 - Health Care Affordability for Vermonters - for two days, March 2nd and 3rd. Rep. Harry Chen, a member of the Health Care Committee and a practicing emergency room physician, was the reporter of the bill. He and other members of the committee were questioned intensely about different provisions of the H.861. During the debate, there were also several procedural fights. Here are some snippets of the conversation on the House floor during the first day of debate. <more>

NUMBER 13: February 27, 2006 - Crossover: March 3 is the deadline for crossover of bills from one legislative body to another.

Catamount Fund: Last week, the House Ways and Means Committee voted 7-4 on party lines to create the Catamount Fund. <more>

NUMBER 12: Selected News Reporting November 2004-February 2006 <more>

NUMBER 11: February 21, 2006 - H.861 - Health Care Affordability for Vermonters: The House Health Care Committee reported out their bill by a 9-2 vote last Thursday. The committee worked through a dozen or more drafts before they felt comfortable enough to vote on it. Here is a selection of comments made by committee members as they marked up, line by line, 32 pages of legislative language: <more>

NUMBER 10: February 16, 2006 - House Health Care Committee: This afternoon Joe Baker (R - Rutland) put a last-minute amendment on the table that come directly from the governor's office. The amendment was similar to the administration's earlier plan to transfer insurance coverage to employers. Baker had a hard time explaining the amendment and no one from the administration was available. <more>

NUMBER 9: February 14, 2006 - Tuesday at the Health Care Committee hearings, Josh Slen (OVHA) testified that there was not enough money under the Global Commitment cap to finance Catamount Health. Today, Steve Kappel, JFO, will explain his interpretation of the Global Commitment funding situation. <more>

NUMBER 8: February 6-10, 2006 - Deadline for House Bills: Speaker Symington requested that all House committees finish their work on bills needing appropriations by February 17. Her goal is to allow time for the Appropriations Committee to complete the FY2007 budget in a timely manner. <More>

NUMBER 7: February 8, 2006 - House Health Care Committee: The committee marked up version 2.1 of the bill on Wednesday and expects to vote it out Thursday or Friday:

Policy: “It is the policy of the state of Vermont that all Vermonters receive affordable and appropriate health care ... <more>

NUMBER 6: January 30-February 3, 2006 - House Health Care Committee: This week the House Health Care Committee worked on drafts 4, 5, 6 and 7 of their bill. The current version creates a benefit plan for primary, preventive and chronic care management for uninsured Vermonters. “The benefits shall be actuarially equivalent to the HealthGuard PPO plan offered to state employees...” <more>

NUMBER 5: January 23-27, 2006 - Health Care Reform Commission: The controversy continues over Dr. Kenneth Thorpe's studies. The November 1, 2005 commission work plan states: "Examine 3-5 tax proposals based on various specific proposals: e.g. Employer based health care, single payer, individual mandate." <More>

Number 4: January 22, 2006 - Dr. Kenneth Thorpe: Last week there continued to be controversy surrounding Dr. Thorpe's presentation to the Health Care Reform Commission. The report examined the financing options for health care reform in Vermont. Many in the health care reform community were expecting to see an option for broad based financing of a universal access system. This was not the case. <More>

Number 3: January 16, 2006 - Commission on Health Care Reform: Last Thursday January 12th, members of the Commission on Health Care Reform expressed serious disappointment about the presentation made by Dr. Kenneth Thorpe, a nationally recognized expert on health care policy. One member found Dr. Thorpe's financial analysis of health care reform options "thin and clearly fall far short of the mark". Many members said it did not meet their expectations. <More>

Number 2: January 8, 2006 - During the first week of the session, the Democrats began to implement their legislative strategy for health care reform. The Democrats are moving to quickly pass narrowly focused measures while keeping the ball rolling on more complex efforts to revamp Vermont's health care system. This is against the backdrop of the governor's call to have a bill on his desk by the end of February. <More>

Number 1: January 3, 2006 - First day of the session - felt like the first day of school - excitement and anxiety in the air. Senator Peter Welch, President Pro Tempore, says his guiding principals for health care reform this session are “coverage for everyone” and “everyone pays”. However, initial work on health care reform will be much more modest. <More>