pegfranzen's blog

Vermont Workers’ Center, Healthcare Is a Human Right Campaign
Testimony on H.559
February 7, 2012
Good afternoon. I am Peg Franzen, President of the Vermont Workers’ Center. I first want to thank you for this opportunity to testify about the implementation of Vermont’s pioneering health reform law. This is a very important process, and I’d like to thank you for moving this process along in a serious, considered and participatory way. I’d also like to share with you the
ideas and suggestions our members have about some of the provisions in this particular bill, H.559.

Last night the Senate Health and Welfare and the House Health Committee held a public hearing to hear from Employers on H.559, the administration’s bill to implement what is called for in ACT 48.

While it was exciting to hear from employers that came and testified in favor of the bill, opponents of the bill had organized to have a number of employers there to testify against certain components of the bill that in our judgment if adopted might keep us from fully implementing ACT 48.

Yesterday,Green Mountain Care board member,Dr. Karen Hein, presented a draft proposal of a Public Engagement Plan that would meet the requirements of Act 48.
Act 48 states that "the healthcare system must be transparent in design, efficient in operation, and accountable to the people it serves. The state must ensure public participation in the design, implementation, evaluation and accountability mechanisms of the health care system."

Legislative Updates Week of January 16th

The People's Team is back in action. Here are some things coming up this week and ways to get involved.

The Worker’s Center’s People’s Team is at the Statehouse every day, so we see the pressures Governor Shumlin is facing and we appreciate that his task is difficult. Yet we’re also out in the real world, talking with Vermonters every day - and in this world, many people are struggling to meet their fundamental needs. To them, how the state is managing the money is less of a concern than whether Vermont will keep its commitment to the people and reduce poverty, suffering, and ill health.

A Historic Day

Rep. Mark Larson was appointed co-chair of the Commission, replacing Rep. Maier who had decided not to run for re-election. There were two major issues that arose during the update on ACT 128, the timeline and what the public comment period was for. Steve Kappel, said the work is going forward but not sure if the original time-line will be met due to the data collection snag they encountered in Sept. While the access to data has been corrected another potential delay may develop due to the need for a budget review process by BISCA which is mandated by state law.

The Commission met on Tuesday, Oct 12th at the Statehouse. The room was packed with lobbyists, policymakers and advocates anxious to hear Dr. Hsaio progress report on Act 128 . Dr. Hsaio, participating by phone, divided his report into 4 parts. See below for short summary of each. One major concern that Hsiao and his team raised and may set back the whole project is the access to claims data from the insurance companies. This may also be an ongoing issue in our campaign.

The Health Care Reform Commission held their September meeting yesterday at the statehouse.

An update on Act 128, a presentation by Susan Besio on how they are handling the federal requirements and opportunities especially the state's Exchange activities. and a presentation on HIT by Hunt Blair were the main agenda items.

[Report from Peg Franzen, Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign, http://www.workerscenter.org/healthcare]

Below, I have copied Hsiao's outline of the presentation that he gave outlining his teams workplan in developing the design options as called for in S.88/Act 128

There were questions about ERISA and about the cost effectiveness of Single Payer but the one major concern that several members of the Commission voiced was related to the "economic impact on the state's economy, which Dr. Hsiao deemed a low priority area for the workplan.