[V]ermont Republican leaders are drafting a letter asking federal investigators to examine Gov. Peter Shumlin’s use of federal money for health care reforms.
The House and Senate minority leaders want the Inspector General of the federal Health and Human Services Department (HHS) to review how federal money was spent on the Vermont Health Connect exchange and the development of the governor’s single payer program, as well as other reform initiatives.
House Minority Leader Rep. Don Turner, R-Milton, said Tuesday that he is not alleging any wrongdoing but wants to know how millions in federal dollars were spent. He said he is frequently asked by constituents where those millions went, and he wants to have an answer for them.
“All I’m trying to do is ensure this money was used as it was supposed to be,” Turner said. “I think it’s incumbent on us to hold this administration accountable.”
Turner said he has run out of options for obtaining that information from sources in Vermont, claiming that the administration is stonewalling the legislative Joint Fiscal Office (JFO). Turner has asked the JFO to provide an accounting of the federal money spent on health care reform initiatives.
“We understand that there is some movement by the auditor’s office to look into this stuff, but he’s shown little interest in the past of a full review of these funds,” Turner said.
State Auditor Doug Hoffer’s office announced this year that it would conduct a performance audit of Vermont Health Connect. Hoffer is coordinating his audit with the HHS Inspector General.
Vermont has spent more than $100 million of predominantly federal money on the state health insurance exchange. The state also received a $45 million State Innovation Model (SIM) grant to work on ways to change how doctors and hospitals deliver medical services and how they are paid for those services.
The Shumlin administration spent roughly $1.6 million in developing the now-deferred single payer proposal. Turner acknowledged that he’s unsure if any federal money was spent on that proposal.
Lawrence Miller, Shumlin’s chief of Health Care Reform, said only state money has been spent on those efforts to this point, but the administration is exploring whether it can draw down federal money to cover those costs as part of the upcoming budget adjustment process.
HHS conducts regular audits of its grants to states, Miller said, and the Agency of Human Services also files grant reports to the feds, which Turner could obtain. He said he’s not aware of instances in which the administration refused to provide JFO information it requested.
“We’ve got a long history of being cooperative with JFO,” he said.
Senate Minority Leader Sen. Joe Benning, R-Caledonia, meanwhile, is focused on the contract of economist Jonathan Gruber, who Shumlin hired to model the economic impacts of a single payer program.
“My game plan is, all this is to see that any money, be it state or federal, that has been spent in a situation where we don’t know who the programmers or research assistants are, how many they are, if they are, and what work they did to get a check, if they received a check,” Benning said.
Gruber’s contract was revised down to a maximum value of $280,000. Benning defended his focus on Gruber, saying the state can’t afford to waste any money given its poor revenue outlook and an anticipated $100 million budget deficit in the coming year.
Payments and invoices on that contract lack much of the detail typically included in such documents. Benning said Hoffer should launch a full performance audit of the contract.
Part of the reason for reaching out to the HHS Inspector General is that Hoffer has not agreed to a performance audit of Gruber’s contract, Benning said.
Hoffer requested additional information from the Agency of Administration relating to those payments and invoices. Hoffer said Tuesday that Administration Secretary Jeb Spaulding told him the state has requested more information from Gruber, and will provide that when it is received.
The Republican letter has not been finalized, Turner said.
