New Health care system being proposed in VT (cuts all employer based coverage)

[cali]

Lawmakers want Vermont public health care option

By Nancy Remsen, Free Press Staff Writer • Friday, December 18, 2009

MONTPELIER — A public health insurance option may have been yanked from the health reform package the U.S. Senate is debating, but it could come up for consideration in the Vermont Legislature this winter.

Rep. Paul Poirier, I-Barre, shared details Thursday of a bill he and two Democrats — Reps. Janet Ancel and Mary Hooper — would offer establishing a public health insurance plan with comprehensive coverage that any Vermonter could purchase.

“It is not a single-payer system,” Poirier said. “It is true competition.” Private insurers could continue to sell health plans, he said, but they would have to offer plans at least as comprehensive as the state’s plan. “They can’t offer anything less. No high deductible plans.”

Poirier proposes a host of significant changes to the current system of health insurance in the state:

• All Vermonters would be required to have health insurance or face financial penalties.

• All the existing state insurance programs — Medicaid, Dr. Dynasaur, Vermont Health Access Program and Catamount Health — would be melded into a single health insurance plan that would be called Green Mountain Care.

• Vermonters on the state plan would pay based on income with those who have been on Medicaid paying nothing.

• Employers would no longer offer health insurance. Individuals would buy directly from private insurers or the state.

• All employers would pay a 12 percent payroll tax.

• Hospital budgets would be restricted collectively to an annual growth rate of the consumer price index plus 3 percent.

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http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20091218/NEWS03/91217027

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

1. I read the real estate ads on Craigslist for Vermont obsessively

Why are Vermonters so sane and so liberal? The state is beautiful. I just can't decide what area to seriously consider for a move in the future when we retire. The only drawback is the snow, but I lived with that for years before.

[cali]

2. Well, we're small, and we have a tradition of governing ourselves directly

that exists to this day. You can literally pick up the phone and call any legislator at home- their home numbers are all listed in the leg directory. Odds are that you know your legislators. And that makes them much, much more responsive to their constituents.

What area? I guess, although I live in the Kingdom, I'd recommend Burlington or somewhere close to it. It's a neat little city with a lot going on.

[Union Yes]

3. I *HEART* Vermont. knr

UHC is patriotic!

:patriot:

[Sgent]

4. Employer changes are iffy at best

Assuming a self insured plan (which almost all employers with over 50 lives use -- even if they use a 3rd party administrator), the state cannot mandate changes because of ERISA.

[jtrockville]

5. Is the coverage comprehensive (medical, dental, vision, mental)?

[cali]

6. pretty sure the answer is yes.

I know that Catamount provides that coverage.

[jtrockville]

7. Awesome. It's absurd to separate these things.

If someone's teeth are rotting out of their head, can they really be considered "healthy"?
I'd think insurance companies would consider dental health a serious risk to overall health.

[asdjrocky]

8. My daughter will graduate from college in a couple of years-

she was talking about moving out of Ca and she ask me where she should go, the first state that came to mind was Vermont.

You have a great state.