Many questions await health care implementation

Rutland Heraldwww.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article By Art Edelstein, Correspondent Green Mountain Care, the state-mandated health care program that will affect businesses with less that 50 employees when implemented in 2014, has many in the business community confused and apprehensive about what the new law means for their companies. “It’s confusion wrapped up in mystery,” asserts George Malek, who […]

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Shumlin’s commitment to single payer health care questioned

VTDIgger Posted By Andrew Stein On May 21, 2013 When Gov. Peter Shumlin signed Act 48 into law in 2011, he set Vermont on a path toward a single payer health care system. Two years later, lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle are questioning his sincerity. And a strategy to draw up a […]

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Legislative Wrap-up: Health insurance marketplace

VTDigger Posted By Andrew Stein On May 16, 2013 On Oct. 1, the state is slated to open the doors to Vermont Health Connect, Vermont’s new health insurance marketplace. Three months later, on Jan. 1, 2014, the web-based exchange will become the sole insurance marketplace for an estimated 118,000 Vermonters, who purchase individual plans or […]

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Legislature approves exchange financing plan and health care reform bill

VTDigger Posted By Andrew Stein On May 14, 2013 In a final-hour move, the Vermont House voted on Tuesday to strip a charge on health insurance premiums from Senate bill 152. The bill, which began this legislative session as a streamlining of the state’s health insurance rate review process, became the vehicle for financing the […]

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Employer assessment and premium charges set to finance health insurance exchange

VTDigger Posted By Andrew Stein The state Senate voted Monday to place a charge on health insurance premiums and extend an employer assessment to pay for the operation of the state’s new health insurance marketplace, called Vermont Health Connect. Senate bill 152, which began this legislative session as a streamlining of the state’s health insurance […]

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Financing plan for Vt. health care exchange up in the air

VTDiggerPosted By Andrew Stein When the federal government gave the Shumlin administration permission in January to create a state-based insurance marketplace, the approval of Vermont Health Connect [2]was conditional. With fewer than two weeks left in the legislative session, a key condition — legislative approval of a self-sustaining financing plan — remains unmet. The Shumlin […]

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Ads target majority unsure of Vt. health changes

Rutland Herald By Kevin O’ConnorSTAFF WRITERThe state will spend more than $100 million to launch Vermont Health Connect, an insurance program that promises to “touch a quarter-million Vermonters in 2014.” But first, its leaders will roll out a nearly $7 million advertising and awareness campaign to alert the majority of the public that so far […]

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Costa will be the Shumlin administration’s health care finance czar

VTDigger Michael Costa has a daunting task before him, and he’s staring it down with cool confidence. After the legislative session wraps up in mid-May, the Vermont Tax Department’s policy director will take on the job of developing the tax structure for a publicly funded health care system. In essence, Costa will become Gov. Peter […]

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