[G]ov. Phil Scott has appointed a former lawmaker who worked under Republican and Democratic governors to an open seat on the Green Mountain Care Board.
Scott announced Friday that Tom Pelham, 67, of Berlin, would sit on the board. He fills an empty seat left by Con Hogan, a former human services administrator, who finished his term at the end of September.
Pelham was deputy secretary of the Agency of Administration and the Tax Department under former Gov. Jim Douglas. He ran the Department of Finance and Management under former Gov. Howard Dean, and worked under Govs. Richard Snelling and Madeleine Kunin.
Pelham has also served as an independent in the Vermont House of Representatives. Since leaving state government, he has worked for the Campaign For Vermont, a nonpartisan political advocacy group. He has a master’s degree from Harvard University and grew up in Arlington.
Scott appointed Pelham despite requests from industry groups to appoint either a doctor of family medicine or another type of health care provider. There has not been a provider on the board since Betty Rambur, a nurse practitioner, left in January.
Rebecca Kelley, the governor’s spokesperson, said Scott chose Pelham because his institutional knowledge of finance and government is similar to the expertise Hogan brought to the board as a former secretary of the Agency of Human Services.
“I think there are opportunities in the future for providers to potentially participate, but given this specific seat, given who he was replacing, that is why the governor went down this avenue,” Kelley said.
Pelham said in an interview he saw how health care was an “emerging issue” when he was finance commissioner and a lawmaker on the House Appropriations Committee. He called health care a “large-scale” issue, similar to education financing.
“I feel lucky to be here,” Pelham said. “I’m grateful to serve my native state. I’ve always loved Vermont, and I do have a set of skills that are pretty tested, and I’m looking forward to contributing them to the state where I was born and raised.”
Scott chose Pelham from a list of candidates submitted by the Green Mountain Care Board nominating committee, a multi-partisan group of lawmakers and community leaders who review applications.
The members are required to forward names to the governor based on whether they have skills defined in Act 48, the 2011 law that created the Green Mountain Care Board. The governor then chooses from the list given or requests a new list.
There is no requirement in statute that a health care provider sit on the board, although lawmakers considered requiring that when they were writing Act 48. Kelley said Scott would consider a change to the statute to require a provider to be on the board.
“I think he understands how that perspective could be valuable,” Kelley said. “It is something we’d have to look at as far as having a member of the community who is regulated by the board. He’d want to look at it further, but it’s not something he’d rule out.”
Pelham said: “The board doesn’t have slots for different types of people. The law just lists the kinds of skills of folks who should be appointed, and I think I fit that category.”
“My choice was to apply and see if I could get appointed, which I did, but I have no doubt that providers are, and always will be well-represented through the Green Mountain Care Board process.”
Pelham said he plans to start as soon as possible.
