At a press conference Wednesday Gov. Peter Shumlin defended his administration’s public confidence in the state health exchange in the months leading up to its troubled launch.
"There's nothing in any of those reports that is startling to me." - Gov. Peter Shumlin
Responding to a report by VPR that his administration received warnings of potential problems with the exchange as early as this summer, Shumlin said he had been “transparent” about the project.
Shumlin read from a July 8 article in the Burlington Free Press that quoted him as saying that the exchange would be “bare bones, which suggests plywood with floors to come later."
The article went on to say: "Shumlin reinforced that second interpretation when he said the bells and whistles would be added after January.”
Despite the governor’s midsummer hedging, the commissioner of the Department of Vermont Health Access expressed optimism just days before the Oct. 1 launch.
On VPR’s Vermont Edition (04:33) Commissioner Mark Larson said he was very confident in the rollout.
“The important thing for Vermonters to know is that Vermont Health Connect is on schedule to be a success next Tuesday,” Larson said on Sept. 27.
Bi-weekly quality assurance reports prepared for Larson’s team painted a different picture. A report issued to the state the next day said that “testing is significantly delayed and there will not be sufficient time remaining to adequately test or address defects.”
Larson’s department released that report and many others to VPR as part of a request under the state access to public records act.
Shumlin said Wednesday that scrutiny on the increasingly troubled build-out of the exchange over the summer is distracting from the important issues.
“If you all want to continue to beat up the past, we could do that ‘til the chickens come home, and there’s plenty to beat up.” Shumlin told reporters. “My job as governor is to focus on taking a website that on Oct. 1 first, wasn’t perfect, wasn’t functioning the way we wished, and make it perfect, and that’s what I’m working on.”
