VTDigger

Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Robin Lunge, Vermont’s director of Health Care Reform.

The Vermont House and Senate should be applauded for putting Vermonters first by passing H.559, the health insurance reform and exchange bill.

Legislators voting in favor of the bill recognized the needs of Vermonters by ensuring that under the insurance coverage system of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), effective Jan. 1, 2014, Vermont small employers and individuals will truly have the opportunity to access affordable health insurance coverage for their employees or for themselves and their families.

The opponents of affordable health care mischaracterize the ACA as a one-size-fits-all law that strips states of their authority to regulate insurance markets. In fact, the ACA allows each state to implement the law in a manner that reflects the needs of its own people. That is what H.559 does.

The governor and the Legislature recognized that a fragmented health system and a fragmented insurance market is a recipe for runaway health care costs, which is what we have now. This has resulted in higher costs for everyone and higher costs for the state. We all know that continued runaway increases in cost make the system unsustainable for individuals, for small employers, and for the state.

By passing H. 559 the Legislature is exercising Vermont’s historic authority to regulate health insurance markets. Some opponents of the bill would have us believe the ACA took away this authority. It did not. While the federal law does not prohibit insurance companies from continuing to offer health plans outside the exchanges, it clearly left intact the pre-existing authority of states to make this choice on their own. That is one of the important steps that H.559 takes.

It is important because it will maximize the amount of federal money coming into Vermont to support our health care system. This is true because the individual and small business tax credits created by the ACA are available only to support health insurance purchased through the exchange after Jan. 1, 2014.

Equally important is the fact that H.559, again through the exercise of the state’s historic authority over its own health insurance markets, creates a much fairer health insurance market for Vermont small businesses, individuals and families by merging the current individual and small group markets into one risk pool.

These are important steps as we move toward the ultimate goal of affordable, accessible and high quality health care for all Vermonters.