Burlington Free Press
Written by Nancy Remsen, Free Press Staff Writer
11:21 PM, Mar. 24, 2011|
MONTPELIER — After a night and day of
debate, the House voted 92-49 Thursday
to approve a bill that could set the state on
the road to creating a first-in-the-nation
consolidated health insurance system that
offers coverage to all Vermonters.
“There was universal agreement on the
House floor that the current system will
bankrupt us. We have a problem. We need
to solve it,” House Speaker Shap Smith, D-
Morristown, said in explaining the need for
the bill.
Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin, who made
health reform a priority for his first term,
congratulated Smith for securing passage
of the bill, then noted it was the Senate’s
turn.
Senate President Pro Tempore John
Campbell, D-Windsor, promised the Senate
would deliver a bill before the Legislature
adjourns.
The vote in the House split along party
lines, with all but three Democrats, all five
Progressives and two of three
independents supporting the legislation
while the Republican caucus battled
unsuccessfully for its defeat.
Supporters deflected every attempt to
weaken the bill.
With the outcome certain Thursday
afternoon, House Republicans demanded
the governor and Democratic
“supermajority” in the Legislature reduce
the uncertainty that would result from
enactment of the bill.
“All we are asking for is a promise,” Rep.
Oliver Olsen, R-Jamaica, said. “We call on
the governor and legislative leaders to
promise employers and employees they
won’t have to pay for coverage they don’t
use.”
Olsen said employers who provide medical
coverage for their workers through self-
insurance plans worry about the financial
impact of a change to a universal coverage
system. Employers might decide it was too
risky to do business in Vermont, Olsen
said.
House Health Committee Chairman Mark
Larson, D-Burlington, countered, “The
assumption that there is predictability in
our health-care system now is a fallacy.”
Peg Franzen sat through weeks of
deliberations in the crowded House Health
Care committee room, then stayed at the
Statehouse until after midnight Wednesday
to hear every minute of the House debate
on the bill.
The 71-year-old Montpelier resident is
president of the Vermont Workers Center,
an organization that sponsored a campaign
to establish health care as a human right.
She became convinced, after listening
people recount health insurance
nightmares, that the state has a health care
crisis — “a crisis we can’t let continue.”
“We are pretty excited,” she said because
the bill recognizes health care as a public
good and sets out a plan to provide
universal coverage.
“It isn’t everything we want,” Franzen said
listing concerns about the upfront costs
Vermonters might still be asked to pay for
care. “We’ve heard that actually prevents
people from going to doctors in a timely
manner.”
Also, Franzen noted, “We are concerned it
isn’t going to happen quickly.” Many of the
changes won’t be implemented until at
least 2014.
Franzen acknowledged the bill’s
complexity, so she said she understood
why lawmakers had dozens of questions
that extended the House session until after
midnight Wednesday and through much of
Thursday.
“Last night it was really amazing — the
civility,” Franzen said. “I think that really
has to be applauded.”
Another perspective
Andy Higgins of Fletcher was at the
Statehouse on Thursday to observe his
daughter, a legislative page, but his visit
also gave him a chance to listen to debate
on the health care bill. He wasn’t
impressed.
“My concern is government is taking over
another part of my life,” Higgins said after
listening to a morning of House
deliberations. “I think it is kind of arrogant
that they think they can run things more
efficiently than the market.
“That is an oxymoron, efficient
government,” he said.
Higgins works in investments and life
insurance, but has a window into the state’
s health care system as an emergency
medical technician in Fairfax.
He said he has paid attention to the
discussion this winter, starting with a radio
interview of William Hsiao, a Harvard
economist who led a research team that
concluded Vermont could save millions if it
adopted a single-payer health care
system.
Higgins disagrees with Hsiao’s
recommendation.
“Government has to get out of the way and
let the market drive it,” he said. “If people
want to smoke, not exercise, use drugs,
why do I have to pay?”
Higgins said he was resigned to passage of
the health reform bill.
“What can I do about it?” he asked, but
added, “It is not going to work.”
Thrust and parry
Republican complaints about the bill
centered on the power given to a new
board and details about Green Mountain
Care — which would be a unified, state-
coordinated health-insurance program
open to all Vermonters — that wouldn’t be
known for several years.
Rep. Tom Koch, R-Barre, called the bill an
empty shell.
“We as a legislature ought to know what we
are doing, not pass the ball so it can be
dealt with later,” Koch said.
Supporters painted a different picture.
Rep. Jim Masland, D-Thetford, called the
bill a bold experiment and responded to
the talk about uncertainties.
“We can’t know all the answers at this time
— that is the nature of pioneering work,”
Masland said. He chided opponents, saying
“It is rather easy when there are some
uncertainties to sow suspicion and angst.”
Rep. Eldred French, D-Shrewsbury,
summed up conflicting complaints made
about the bill.
“We’ve been told this bill goes too fast, too
slow, that it does too much or not enough,”
French said. “Sounds like it may be close to
the mark.”
Before the final vote, Rep. Duncan
Kilmartin, R-Newport, offered an
amendment to change the selection
process for the new board that would
undertake much of the planning for and
regulation of the new health system.
Kilmartin said these decisions were too
significant to give to an appointed board.
He proposed instead that voters elect a
16-member board with each member
representing a geographic region of the
state.
“It is not the hospitals, the physicians, the
tax department, it is you and me and our
fellow citizens who are the stakeholders,”
Kilmartin said. “The citizens would control
their destiny, not political appointees.”
Larson, who responded to every challenge
of the bill, defended the two-step
appointment process for the Green
Mountain Care Board. An 11-member
nominating committee would be named,
with the governor, legislature and interest
groups each filling seats. The nominating
panel would recommend board candidates
to the governor, who would make the
officials appointments.
“One thing we have heard most clearly,”
Larson said, “is we had to have a board
that was independent of political pressure.”
He said Kilmartin’s plan would result in a
partisan rather than an impartial board.
The Democratic majority exerted its
muscle, defeating Kilmartin’s amendment
by a vote of 99-42.
Contact Nancy Remsen at 578-5685 or
nremsen@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com