An $18 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will take Vermont one step closer toward creating a single-payer health care system.
Vermont was one of 13 states to receive a portion of $220 million in federal funding to help create health care “exchanges,” according to a press release from Health and Human Services.
Vermont will use the exchange to create an enrollment program for Green Mountain Care as state officials lay the groundwork for a universal health care system under Act 48.
Gov. Peter Shumlin hailed the news.
“This grant will move us further along the path toward a single-payer health care system in Vermont that controls skyrocketing costs threatening Vermont families and businesses,” Shumlin said in a prepared statement.
The federal Affordable Care Act mandates that each state create an exchange by 2014. The idea of an exchange is to give state residents the means to compare information about available health benefit plans, enroll in plans, or receive tax credits or public assistance. Stripped down to its simplest form, an exchange is similar to a travel Web site, only for health insurance. It will approve “qualified health plans” and rate them based on quality. On a more complex level, it is a heavily-regulated marketplace where insurers compete to offer the best approved plan.
The grant was part of a second round of funding related to the exchange. Vermont already received $1 million in planning grant funds for the fiscal year 2011.
Robin Lunge, director of health care reform for the State of Vermont, said the money will go to hiring staff for the exchange, purchasing information technology equipment and other infrastructure, and contracting for one-time services. The state will be looking to contract with people with expertise in designing a navigation program and an outreach and education plan.
Lunge said the state is focusing on operational detail, particularly as it relates to enrollment to determine if it can be used as part of a single-payer system.
Now the the state has been awarded the grant, Lunge said, the next step is seeking approval from the Joint Fiscal Committee as to where to distribute the funds. Lunge said the state will likely start putting the federal money to work in mid-December and potentially start hiring staff in January.
Twenty-nine states in all have begun creating “one-stop marketplaces” under the federal Affordable Care Act in which, as the department put it, “consumers can choose a private health insurance plan that fits their health needs and have the same kinds of insurance choices as members of Congress.”
Download a PDF of a Q & A from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for more information about the exchanges. CMS Exchange QA_11 29 11
