2006 Legislative Updates:

  Selected News Reporting November 2004-February 2006

November 4, 2004 - Vermont Guardian

The day after the election, Douglas said the Democratic majority in the House and Senate did not daunt him. "Vermonters elected us with the expectation that we can get along and work things out ... including permit reform and health care."

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December 10, 2004 - Vermont Guardian

... this year alone, the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, which represents all 246 towns in the state and offers them health insurance policies through BC/BS at group rates, billed its members $35 million for that coverage - 10.5 percent more than last year.

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February 4, 2005 - Vermont Guardian

........ as Gov. James Douglas instructs universal health care would be wonderful but it's just not practical.

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March 2, 2005 - Vermont Guardian

Momentum for a single-payer health insurance system is building, just as two key legislative committees hold hearings next week on this session's political hot potato - health-care reform.

Voters in 20 towns across Vermont approved a Town Meeting Day resolution - overwhelmingly in most cases - that calls upon local and state leaders "to support and actively work for the creation of a universal and comprehensive health insurance system which is publicly financed and accountable to the citizens of Vermont and which will reduce cost by eliminating most current administrative expenses."

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April 1, 2005 - Vermont Guardian

For the better part of 30 years, Vermont has made admirable attempts to reform its health care system.

From Tom Salmon to Jim Douglas, governors have empanelled special committees with the best and brightest minds - usually those knee deep in the delivery of health care or insurance to the rest of us - to devise some simple, yet unique, solution to our woes.

All have failed. Why?

The answer is simple. For too long, health care fixers have focused on how we pay for health care, not what we pay for. That's mainly because the "how" can be easily defined politically - liberals like single payer (universal coverage) while conservatives like multiple payer (competition).

Isolating and fixing what we pay for isn't as easy without bold leadership and fresh ideas - both of which seem to be lacking these days.

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April 21, 2005 - House Roll Call Vote:

Shall H.524 -- Green Mountain Health -- pass? Ayes-86 Nays-58

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April 29, 2005 - Vermont Guardian

Several leading business lobby groups are clamoring to paint the reform proposal issued by the House Health Care Committee as "socialized medicine" and therefore bad policy and bad for business.

Funny thing is .... dozens of businesses don't seem to have a problem with socialized medicine when one of their employees opts out of their private insurance plan to take up the state on some "free" care.

.... roughly 15,000 Vermonters, were enrolled in a Medicaid-funded program even though one member of these families works for one of the state's large companies or institutions.

If we are to look to the private sector for solutions, this appears to read: If it's too expensive for us, there's always the government. It makes the hue and cry of "socialized medicine" less believable.

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May 18, 2005 - Senate Roll Call Vote:

Shall H.524 -- Green Mountain Health -- pass with amendment? Ayes-21 Nays-6

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June 3, 2005 - House Roll Call Vote:

Shall the House adopt the Conference Report on H.524? Ayes-79 Nays-55

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June 6, 2005 - Senate Roll Call Vote

Shall the report of the Conference on H.524 be adopted? Ayes-18 Nays-7

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June 15, 2005 - Vermont Public Radio

According to a new VPR poll, Vermonters are evenly divided over the implementation of a publicly financed, government-operated health care system in the state.

The poll also shows that a significant number of Vermonters want to use a broad-based tax, like the sales or income tax, to finance a plan to provide health care benefits to uninsured people.

There was very little support for the governor's proposal to tax health care premiums.

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June 22, 2005 - Governor Douglas Press Release

Governor Jim Douglas today issued a formal 17-page message to the Clerk of the House outlining 23 principal reasons for returning, without his signature, H.524 (Health Care Reform bill) to the General Assembly.

H.524 would create a new, government-run, taxpayer financed health care program that would lead Vermont toward a system of fewer choices, fewer benefits and fewer health care providers.

H.524 would also impose new payroll taxes on small businesses and non-profit organizations, and a regressive income tax surcharge on the working poor to finance the limited health care coverage it proposes.

Somewhat ironically, H.524 calls for a study commission intended to justify the millions of dollars in decisions the Legislature has already made, actions it has already taken and decisions is appears destined to make.

Such a study -- with predefined outcomes -- does not constitute the collaborative discussion required to achieve meaningful and lasting reform.

The bottom line is that the numerous technical deficiencies and conceptual flaws of H.524 -- including an effort to commandeer Executive Branch functions -- render it incapable of achieving its publicly stated goals.

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October 21, 2005 - Vermont Guardian

"Health care is the hot potato that everyone is trying to pass off to the other person and the local folks get stuck holding it and having to deal with it, but it's a statewide problem," said Paul Cillo, who is the president of the Public Assets Institute, a non-profit policy analysis organization.

"A statewide teacher's contract doesn't make the health care problem go away," said Cillo, who lives in Hardwick. "It just changes how we negotiate the terms; the cost is still going to trickle down to the community."

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November 3, 2005 - Addison Independent

The rising cost of health care insurance is no longer an academic, or political, discussion. The crux of the issue is economic and the need for a resolution is immediate.

Health insurance costs soared by double-digit increases again this year, taking a typical family policy at the Addison Independent with MVP from roughly $9,800 per year to more than $11,000. If the employer splits the cost 50-50 (and more and more employers simply aren't offering the coverage) the cost is still a staggering $5,500 per employee; and the employee struggles to meet that $5,500 annual expense.

..... time is running out on political tactics that delay action, ask for more studies, or pursue half-baked measures. Significant reform is needed. The candidates who propose and support a substantial, well-considered plan that changes the status-quo in a significant way will be looked on more and more favorably for no other reason than the intuitive understanding by the public that the status quo doesn't work any more.

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December 30, 2005 - Vermont Guardian

In recent weeks, Democratic leaders and Douglas have begun to maneuver into position in preparation for the session, and their approaches couldn't be more different. Douglas wants to provide "universal access to health insurance," while Democrats want to provide "universal access to health care."

To achieve his goal of "universal access to health insurance coverage," Douglas would set up a new low-cost insurance plan and use tax subsidies to help people afford the premiums, and help people enroll in employer-sponsored health insurance plans. By moving people off of Medicaid and into employer-sponsored plans, Douglas said the Medicaid budget could see savings of $5.8 million annually.

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January 6, 2006 - Vermont Guardian

For all their pretense of "listening" during a series of public forums throughout the summer and fall, elected officials in Vermont remain bent on creating an election-year placebo rather than the pill needed to fix our ailing health care system.

Posturing by both Democrats and Republican Gov. Jim Douglas is little more than political theatrics designed to keep their supporters engaged while the rest of us are simply left to listen.

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January 9, 2006 - Addison Independent

Douglas served notice that he continues to oppose the notion of a state-run, single-payer health care system. Douglas noted that one in four Vermonters currently receives Medicaid benefits, which is the highest rate in the nation.

"The notion of the state taking responsibility for managing the care of the other three-quarters of the population, as well-meaning as it may be, would result in dire consequences for Vermont's fiscal and economic health - not to mention the inevitable decline in health care quality that would occur once limited government budgets meet with unlimited consumer demands," Douglas said.

While Douglas and House leaders agree there should be more investment in health information technology, chronic care initiatives and healthy lifestyles, they part ways on the notion of a single-payer system.

"I think the Legislature is prepared to meet the governor part way, but I do think there is going to have to be some reciprocity," Maier said. "There needs to be some movement on both sides of the issue."

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January 27, 2006 - Vermont Press Bureau

Dr. Thorpe (consultant to the legislature) said his plan is close in approach to the governor's proposal.

"It is not tremendously dissimilar," Thorpe said. "What I have presented is a universal insurance plan."

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February 9, 2006 - Vermont Press Bureau

"We are increasingly optimistic that a health care reform package can pass this year," Gibbs (spokesperson for Governor Douglas) said.

Gibbs said the governor's support hinges on who takes the financial risk should the insurance company find the plan is too costly.

"The governor would not be enthusiastic about a plan that taxpayers would be on the hook to bail out if it collapses," Gibbs said. "If this can be resolved, it would be one of the most important steps to getting universal access this year."

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February 10, 2006 - The Associated Press

Gov. James Douglas threw serious doubt Thursday into whether a health reform initiative will be enacted this year when he reiterated his opposition to new or increased taxes to pay for it.

That's despite encouraging signs from members of his administration, who have been working closely with the House Health Care Committee as it drafts a much more moderate reform plan than what it recommended last year.

"We don't need to raise taxes to provide an affordable health option for the people of our state," Douglas said. "There's no need for that. I proposed a health care reform that needed no new taxes."

The governor did present a proposal that would not have raised taxes. But it would raise the amount of money dozens of employers would have to pay in insurance premiums for their workers by an estimated $45 million.

Douglas said that is not a tax, it's merely asking employers to do something they've already committed to do.

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February 15, 2006 - The Associated Press

Concerned Vermonters for Universal Health Care accused the House Health Care Committee of caving in to Gov. James Douglas, who has advocated a much more modest approach to expanding access and reducing costs, in the hope of enacting something this year.

"They've crafted a bill that (Douglas) would have no choice but to sign," said a physician who supports a taxpayer-financed single payer system similar to how health care is funded and delivered in Canada.

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February 20, 2006 - Burlington Free Press

"They asked me to help them think through options," Thorpe said of his role with lawmakers. "I've been doing a lot of outreach to the governor's office. I think there is a tremendous amount of common ground that increases prospects for passing something very major."

"We have been pleased with his support of the chronic care initiative," said Jason Gibbs, the governor's spokesman. "It seems he has brought the Legislature around to the idea."

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February 24, 2006 - Vermont Guardian

Once again, politics has trumped reality when it comes to reforming the way Vermonters receive and pay for health care.

Democrats, who ran successfully in 2004 on a platform of health care reform and the hinted at a promise of a universal system that would insure all Vermonters, have caved to the veto threat of Republican Gov. Jim Douglas and are working to accommodate some of his limp proposals that do nothing but strike rhetorical chords.

A bill making its way through the Legislature makes laudable attempts at covering the uninsured, but it does so at a time when people are being priced out of health care faster than the bill's ability to cover them.

Vermonters have said repeatedly that they want to see a publicly financed system of health care. That doesn't mean the demonized "single payer," it just means that we all pay what we can.

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February 24, 2006 - The Associated Press

"The so-called Catamount Plan, I think, although arguably better than what was presented last year, still has some major problems," Douglas said, mentioning its funding as the primary stumbling block. He's not willing to embrace it or offer alternatives...

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February 25, 2006 - Vermont Public Radio

VPR's John Dillon reports:

(Dillon) For weeks, Douglas has said the Democrats are too eager to raise taxes to solve a number of funding issues. On Friday, his criticism got a little more pointed.

(Douglas) "If raising taxes were an Olympic sport, House Democrats would win the gold medal."

(Dillon) But House Speaker Gaye Symington says the Douglas administration has proposed revenue increases, it's just not calling them taxes.

(Symington) "I think to claim that he has put forward a budget that doesn't rely on tax increases is not real. I think to claim that his health care proposal doesn't require new revenues is not real."

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February 26, 2006 - The Associated Press

Gov. James Douglas largely agrees with the ideas in the Senate bill (S.310 -- Common Sense Initiatives) because they're ones that he and the lawmakers have been talking about for months. He's less enthusiastic about the House bill, in large part because he doesn't like that it would be paid for with an increase in the tobacco tax, a boost in money from the national tobacco lawsuit settlement, and a new provision in the Medicaid insurance program for the poor.

But he's also sent signals that, despite those differences, he likes the new tack the Legislature is taking and is likely to sign what the Legislature passes.

Vermont Health Care for All would like to thank VPIRG for their generous support of the 2006 Legislative Updates. They are also available on the VPIRG website http://www.vpirg.org. They will be produced throughout the 2006 Legislative session by Paul Forlenza. Forlenza can be contacted at paul@forlenza.us or 802-453-3592.