Editor’s note: This commentary is by House Minority Leader Don Turner of Milton.
[I] feel very strongly that the governor’s announcement this week is good news for Vermont. Having fought this battle during passage, House Republicans still find it unbelievable that a law of this magnitude could have ever been passed by the Legislature with no idea on the benefit package, what it would cost, who would pay for it or how they would pay. Compounding this was a governor who refused to comply with a provision in the law that required him to bring forth benefit and payment plan proposals to the Legislature over two years ago.
These actions have created uncertainty and economic instability, something that Vermont has been dealing with since the Shumlin administration took office in 2011. The passage of this law presents a clear example of how potentially dangerous our government can be when ruled by a single party with large majorities in both chambers of the Legislature.
I believe that this ideological experiment has been an egregious waste of taxpayer dollars and the administration’s human capital. The governor has spent millions of taxpayer dollars over the last four years with little to show for it. Just imagine what could have been done for every Vermonter with this money.
Single payer was not a path that I, or any Republicans in our caucus, were advocating for — but that’s because we wanted something better for our families, friends and our state. We understand that in order to make health care more accessible and affordable to Vermonters we need to continue to address the rate of growth in health care costs. Republicans ran campaigns this year, and won seats on one simple message: We can no longer afford the unsustainable increase of the cost of living in Vermont. And from the beginning we never saw how single payer was going to reduce health care costs to the average individual or small business in Vermont — and more importantly, there was not good evidence that it would ultimately make health care more affordable in the future.
Further, the looming question of single payer had put too many things “on hold.” I believe that this four-year period of uncertainty to Vermonters will have a lasting negative effect on our economy. Businesses have been waiting to make important long-term decisions related to hiring and expansion, numerous physicians have been waiting to make decisions about how to manage their own practice, and many other health care reforms have been suppressed, waiting on the sidelines while the focus was on what was being sold by the Democrats as the cure to all of Vermont’s health care problems.
Today, I sense a sigh of relief coming from many Vermonters with this uncertainty now behind us. It gives us the freedom to boldly move forward doing the things that we can all agree need to be done. The Green Mountain Care Board released a study earlier this year indicating that health care increases have been held under 4 percent for the last four years, less than the cost growth of state government over that same time period. This trend gives us the opportunity to have a thoughtful conversation about making our health care system in Vermont more accessible, more sustainable, and improve quality.
Today, I sense a sigh of relief coming from many Vermonters with this uncertainty now behind us. It gives us the freedom to boldly move forward doing the things that we can all agree need to be done.
Our goal will be to provide access for all Vermonters to comprehensive and affordable health coverage by encouraging a robust and voluntary insurance market while reducing disruption and uncertainty for families, small businesses and consumers.
Access to providers, recruitment and retention of Vermont’s high quality and talented medical workforce (doctors, nurses, dentists, other practitioners).
Quality health care – continuing to improve the quality of care for all Vermonters by further investing in programs like the Blueprint for Health while maintaining key partnerships with the provider community, Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers.
Maintain a private insurance market with voluntary participation in the health exchange for individuals and small businesses with 100 or fewer employees to purchase insurance through the exchange, through an agent or directly from the insurers. In 2017, would become voluntary to large businesses as well (when allowable under the ACA). Maintain a premium-based system.
Contain costs – Commit additional investments into the Blueprint for Health that supports robust provider participation and maintains a strong multi-payer approach.
Community health teams and medical homes would be expanded in three ways: I. New providers (specialized providers and ACOs), II. New populations (such as duals, etc.); III. Expanded functions and capabilities. This includes linking the community health teams with disability and long-term services and support functions. We would also like to add pharmacists to the teams to provide comprehensive medication management and therapy.
Would also assure the transitional care models in place are best practice (such as the Coleman Model). The Coleman Model is a health coaching model that’s been shown to reduce readmission rates.
Vermonters have the right to know what they received for the millions of taxpayer dollars spent on health care over the last few years. In the coming weeks, I will be requesting that the Inspector General and all other appropriate health care oversight agencies on the federal level look into what has been going on here in Vermont during this administration’s tenure.
Republicans look forward to working across party lines to work on the ideas proposed above as well as those we gathered from constituents during the campaign. Finally, I don’t believe that there is a single solution for health care reform, but with careful targeted adjustments we can slowly correct the path that Vermont is on and whittle away at this very large issue. Abandonment of the single payer initiative removes this large cloud that has been hovering over our state. We have not wavered on our commitment to making Vermont more affordable, and we now see a great opportunity to make important improvements in our health care system in ways that will help all Vermonters for generations to come.
