State of Vermont [phone] 802-828-2316 Robin Lunge, Director
Agency of Administration [fax] 802-828-3320
Health Care Reform
Pavilion Office Building
109 State Street
Montpelier, VT 05609-0201
www.adm.state.vt.us
PRESS INFORMATION
January 17, 2012
Montpelier – A series of reports charting the next steps in Governor Peter Shumlin’s health care reform initiative were submitted today by his administration to the Vermont General Assembly, as required by Act 48, last year’s ground breaking reform law.
Representative Michael Fisher, D, Lincoln, Chair of the House Health Care Committee, and Representative Ann Pugh, D, South Burlington, Chair of the House Human Services Committee, have co-sponsored accompanying legislation, H.559, that would implement the recommendations in the reports.
Robin Lunge, Director of Health Care Reform in the Agency of Administration, will present the reports and the proposed legislation to the House Health Care Committee today at 2:30 p.m.
“Vermont’s health care reform requires significant decisions to be made in each of the next few years. This bill includes some of the critical choices the General Assembly must make in 2012 if we are going to meet the federal deadline for having an exchange in operation and also achieve the goals of Act 48,” said Lunge.
Significant provisions in H.559 would define a small employer in the Vermont health benefit exchange as an employer with 100 employees or fewer, merge the current small group and individual health insurance markets, and prohibit sale of health insurance to individuals and small employers outside of the exchange. The bill also shifts responsibility for hospital budget reviews and final Certificate of Need and health insurance rate setting decisions to the Green Mountain Care Board.
Reports submitted to the General Assembly today address a variety of subjects, including how to restructure Vermont’s existing health insurance market, an evaluation of the State’s health information technology infrastructure, integration of public health initiatives with health care reform and health care workforce analysis and retraining.
The reports submitted today can be read online at hcr.vermont.gov
H.559 can be found on the Vermont Legislature’s website at:http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/2012/Bills/Intro/H-559.pdf