The Republican governor said he was “disappointed” the Republican-led U.S. Senate had not addressed concerns he and other governors raised. On Wednesday, Scott and nine other governors sent a letter to Senate leaders saying their efforts would “accelerate health plans leaving the individual market, increase premiums, and result in fewer Americans having access to coverage.”
The letter was signed by five Republican governors and five Democrats.
At the news conference, Scott said the Affordable Care Act was unsustainable financially but that the current efforts to dismantle it were being poorly executed, including the idea the ACA could be repealed without a replacement.
Scott said he was looking for proposals that would enhance predictability and stability in costs for the commercial insurance markets, health care providers and families.
“None of the current proposals I’ve seen thus far provide either,” he said at his weekly news conference.
The governor also said his administration would achieve $12 million in savings because of a downgrade in revenue without cutting vital services to Vermonters or using nonsustaining funds.
Earlier Thursday, environmental activist James Ehlers filed paperwork with the secretary of state’s office to run for governor in 2018 as a Democrat. Scott said he planned to run again but that it was too early to make an announcement. Ehlers is executive director of Lake Champlain International, an advocacy group for water quality.
Scott also told reporters he had requested more than $6 million in federal disaster aid because of flooding early this month that affected seven counties. He acknowledged a concern that President Donald Trump might reject the request because Scott and the state’s congressional delegation have opposed the president’s policies. Pennsylvania and North Carolina have had disaster relief requests rejected.
“I’ve thought about it,” Scott said, adding he hoped it wouldn’t happen.
During the campaign, Scott pledged to have Vermont get rid of its troubled health care exchange and join other states that already have a better-running system. Scott said Thursday he was still interested in pursuing other options but that it made sense to see what changes Congress makes first. He said he had broached the subject with governors of other states but taken no firm action.
Scott repeatedly said Vermont could accept a Medicaid block grant, a fixed amount, instead of being reimbursed for each procedure, if the federal government allowed states more “flexibility” in how they run their programs.
However, he said the state could move to a block grant only if it received about the same amount it currently does, roughly $1.4 billion a year.
Scott acknowledged that block grants raise concerns of adequate funding in the future, but he said reforms at the state level could help slow increases in health care costs. He pointed to a program in Vermont that allows teams of health care providers to look after the health of some Medicaid patients for a set price instead of being paid for each procedure.
The 10 governors rejected the Senate’s proposals as being harmful to the states and their people.
“The bill still threatens coverage for millions of hardworking, middle class Americans,” they said in their letter. “The bill’s Medicaid provisions shift costs to states and fail to provide the necessary resources to ensure that no one is left out, including the working poor or those suffering from mental illness or addiction.”
The Senate tried to pass two proposals this week. One would have repealed Obamacare and replaced it with the Better Care Reconciliation Act. The other would have partly repealed the ACA with a two-year delay to come up with a replacement.
