Top officials from the Shumlin administration have told Republican congressmen that their concerns about the legality of Vermont’s upcoming health insurance market are “unwarranted” and “incorrect.”
On June 28, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif, and other Republican leaders of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform questioned a Vermont policy “to restrict access to the insurance market outside the exchange.” In 2014, Vermont is set to begin requiring more than 100,000 residents to buy health insurance on the state-run market, called Vermont Health Connect. The change applies only to those who buy insurance individually or through small businesses with 50 or fewer employees.
Two weeks after Issa and company issued the letter to Mark Larson, commissioner of the Department of Vermont Health Access, Larson and Susan Donegan, commissioner of the Department of Financial Regulation, responded.
“We believe your concerns about restricting the purchase of health insurance by individuals and small groups to Vermont Health Connect are unwarranted,” they wrote.
Larson and Donegan asserted that it’s the state’s “right” to funnel those populations into one state-run marketplace. They cited sections of the federal Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, to substantiate the state’s decision. One of those sections is labeled: “No Interference with State Regulatory Authority,” and it says, “Nothing in this title shall be construed to preempt any State law that does not prevent the application of the provisions of this title.”
States have traditionally had regulatory authority over how insurers operate within their borders, and they say this provision is meant to preserve that authority.
The congressmen also requested “all documents and communications referring or relating to the Vermont Exchange’s proposal to restrict or prohibit the purchase of health insurance coverage outside the exchange … for the time period of March 23, 2010 to the present.” They wanted this information by July 12 — the day Donegan and Larson sent their response.
The state did not comply.
“This request is overbroad in time frame and would produce a large number of records at significant burden to the state and with no value to your inquiry,” Larson and Donegan wrote. “Vermont is focused on the successful implementation of Vermont Health Connect to ensure that Vermonters have access to quality health insurance plans beginning Oct. 1. With 80 days until implementation, providing records on an issue that appears settled as a legal matter unnecessarily diverts staff attention from this goal.”
