The Shumlin administration has instructed top employees in the Agency of Human Services not to attend to Green Mountain Care Board meetings regarding a new health care payment system.
Robin Lunge, the director of health care reform, sent an email on Feb. 1 telling senior employees in the Agency of Human Services that the Agency of Administration would instead attend the regulatory board’s weekly meetings regarding the all-payer model.
The email went primarily to five people: Hal Cohen, the secretary of the Agency of Human Services; Monica Hutt, the commissioner of the Department of Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living; Frank Reed, the commissioner of the Department of Mental Health; Steven Costantino, the commissioner of the Department of Vermont Health Access; and Harry Chen, the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Health.
Lunge wrote: “We do not want a large state team monitoring the hearings for several reasons, including: (1) We really want the focus of the hearings to be on public comment, so do not want to appear to be dominating the hearings with questions or issues. (2) It is not a good use of our limited resources. (3) It is considered lobbying under state law and (federal) funds may not be used for lobbying.”
A day later, Lunge wrote an email to Costantino saying an employee named “Dana” was skilled at understanding Vermont Health Connect’s commercial insurance plans, “but doesn’t get the politics/board dynamics.”
VTDigger obtained the emails through a request under the Vermont Public Records Act.
Lunge, whose office falls under the Agency of Administration, said in an interview that sending “multiple people from multiple agencies” to a single Green Mountain Care Board meeting is “not necessarily the best use of our resources.”
Lunge said Vermont law requires her to be the primary liaison between the Shumlin administration and the Green Mountain Care Board, and she has offered to have her team provide the Agency of Human Services with any notes from the meetings.
She did not cite any conflicts leading up to the decision. But she said some lower-level employees would attend the meetings and “were getting questions that they weren’t necessarily in a position to answer them, through no fault of their own.”
Lunge said state employees could watch videos of Green Mountain Care Board meetings online or attend the meetings on their own time.
