Governor Peter Shumlin says he’s “absolutely confident” that technical problems with Vermont’s health care exchange will be fixed in the next few weeks. The governor says he is developing a contingency plan, but he says it’s much too early to focus on this proposal. VPR’s Charlotte Albright met a few health insurance shoppers recently at an information session hosted by the local chamber of commerce at a shopping mall in St. Johnsbury. She found that people without employers or insurance don’t have human service managers to answer their health care questions: VPR's special series, "State of Mind," on Vermont's mental health system, concludes with the controversial issue of involuntary medication, or what opponents call forced drugging. A discussion and potential fight loom in the state legislature this winter over changing the process for when a doctor may administer anti-psychotic medication to a patient refusing treatment in a psychiatric hospital. Jane Lindholm profiles Marla Simpson of Randolph.
Peter was a Producer/Announcer at VPR until 2015. He began his public radio career in 2007 at WHQR-FM in Wilmington, North Carolina where he served as Morning Edition host and reporter, covering county government and Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base. His work has won several Associated Press awards and has appeared on NPR's All Things Considered, Weekend Edition, and PRI's This American Life. A graduate of the creative writing program at the University of Maine at Farmington, Peter enjoys writing, cooking and traveling.
