The rocky rollout of the state’s new health care exchange is clearly having an impact on the way that some lawmakers view Gov. Peter Shumlin's plan to have Vermont become the first state in the country to adopt a single payer system.
The governor wants to put the system in place in 2017, but a bipartisan group of lawmakers is concerned that this timetable could throw the state's health care system into total chaos.
Dorset Republican Patti Komline is the lead sponsor of a bill to delay the full implementation of any single payer plan until 2019 at the earliest.
“A lot needs to be done between now and 2017 to make that happen. So I just think why not give people some more time,” said Komline. “And what we’re saying is 'let’s give us a couple of more years to get that information in place rather than race to a deadline.' Make sure we get it right and learn from mistakes we made in the exchange.”
Jericho Democrat George Till is a cosponsor of the bill. Till is a doctor and serves on the House Health Care committee. He notes that over the past three years, health care costs have risen, on average, by just 3 percent. And he says that’s a huge drop from the double digit increases of five to 10 years ago.
"Why not give people some more time and learn from mistakes we made in the exchange?" Dorset Rep. Patti Komline
He says more time is needed to see if the rate could go down even lower once several new cost containment proposals are put into place.
“Those percentage increases are going to be affected by the things that we are doing or have done already, unrelated to the quote 'single payer system,'” said Till. “So we really need to be able to compare where we’re going with where we are, not where we were. That’s the reason for the delay.”
Robin Lunge is the director of Health Care Reform for the Shumlin Administration. Before a single payer system can be put into place, the administration has to prove that it won’t hurt the state economy, will reduce health costs, is based on a sustainable funding model and gives health care providers a fair reimbursement rate. She says she’ll be ready to do this in a timely manner.
“So it’s our intention to work with the Legislature to explore their questions and what questions they need answered between now and 2015 and come forward with a concrete financing bill in 2015,” said Lunge. “We think that that gives us plenty of time to move forward with doing all the analysis that we need to do and implement in 2017.”
And Lunge says there’s no guarantee that the lower growth rate in health care costs can be sustained in the future without single payer.
“There have been other places in history where there’s been a low growth rate, but it hasn’t stuck,” Lunge said. “And so we need to make sure that we are really improving our system and maintaining that low cost rate.”
Lunge says the administration will outline a variety of different single payer funding options before the session is over.
