VTDigger - Welch, Shumlin Tell Business Owners that Health Reform is a Cooperative Effort

News Article

By Andrew Stein

Rep. Peter Welch stood by Vermont's health care initiatives on Monday, and told small business owners that the state and federal governments must cooperate to reduce health care costs. Gov. Peter Shumlin joined Welch, and the two politicos did not guarantee the success of Vermont's health care reform initiatives, but they said they are working hard to reform a broken system.

Their call for continued reform came 10 days after U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., penned a letter to the Shumlin administration, questioning the legality of the state's up and coming health insurance market, Vermont Health Connect. The letter, which was signed by other Republican leaders of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, took issue with the state mandate that Vermonters buying insurance individually, or through businesses with 50 or fewer employees, must purchase health care coverage on the exchange.

The letter was issued on the committee's official letterhead. Scrolled in fine print in the upper corner was Welch's name, as he sits on the committee.

"It's a bogus letter and more of the same," Welch said in an interview. "There's no basis for it; Health and Human Services signed off on what Vermont is doing and, under law, all of the states have the right to regulate their own insurance. It's just a continuation on the assault of the health care bill. The Republicans appealed it 37 times."

Welch said health care reform must come from a reach across the aisle, not partisan politics.

"The question for Congress is: Do we want to help address practical implementation issues or do we want to constantly fight yesterday's battles today?" he said.

Welch told dozens of Vermont businesspeople gathered at Burlington's Lake and College Building on Monday that no law is perfect -- including the Affordable Care Act and the state's health care reform bills that established the new insurance exchange.

"We have to really lean in and listen to the folks in Vermont about the implementation of health care (reform), assess what you're saying and work with you to make adjustments," he said. "There is no law that is going to on its own change health care. It's the hard work of implementation to get from where we are to where we need to be, and where we are is health care is too expensive."

Tom Torti, president of the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce, told those in attendance on Monday that his organization supports Shumlin's health care reform initiatives.

"He jumped off a cliff without knowing where he's going to land, and a lot of people said he's crazy," Torti said. "Others, including this chamber, said: "You know what, you can't go back, and you can't stand still, and we've got to try something different.' And we did. We don't know where this is going to take us, but it is better to live boldly and try."

The Lake Champlain Chamber, along with several other groups, was recently awarded $120,000 in federal money to act as a "navigator," helping businesses and individuals find plans on the new health insurance market.

The Shumlin administration is trying to meet an Oct. 1 deadline for opening the new exchange. On Jan. 1, more than 100,000 individuals and small businesses will be required to purchase health insurance on the exchange.

"On Oct. 1, we're going to be up and running, we hope," Shumlin said. "If you sign up for a health care plan by Dec. 16, it will be in effect by January when you want the new policy to go into place, and we believe that Vermont will pull down between $200 and $400 million to pay for health care for low and middle income Vermonters."

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