Governor seeks curbs on Medicaid, health costs
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By Daniel Barlow Vermont Press Bureau - Published: January 9, 2009
MONTPELIER – The collective sense from the two chairmen of the Vermont Legislature's health care committees to Gov. James Douglas' inaugural speech Thursday was: Define realignment.
Health care consisted of only a small portion of the speech Douglas gave to lawmakers Thursday as he kicked off his fourth term as governor, but among the proposals was a suggestion that Vermont should "realign" benefits for its health insurance programs.
"Frankly, I'm not really sure what that means," said Rep. Steve Maier, D-Middlebury, the chairman of the House Health Care Committee. "We clearly need more details than just what we heard today."
In his speech, Douglas said there were two ways to wrangle the Medicaid budget under control: Change the eligibility to exclude certain populations or "realign benefits and share costs to fit responsible budgets." He didn't like the former, but endorsed the later.
Additional memos released to the media by the Douglas administration Thursday evening were more telling on his health care proposal: He will propose increasing premiums and reducing benefits to "ensure the long-term sustainability of programs …"
Maier said the state's Medicaid spending, a large part of which comes down to Vermont from the federal government, would include programs such as the Vermont Health Access Plan, an insurance program for low-income residents, and Dr. Dynasaur, the insurance program for children.
"If he is talking about creating a different benefit design that would be less costly to the state, than we may be interested," said Maier, who added that he worried that increases in premiums may also force some residents to go without insurance.
Sen. Doug Racine, D-Chittenden, the chairman of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee and an announced candidate for governor in 2010, said he was encouraged that the governor suggested tying in healthy lifestyle goals into Medicaid programs – including dropping costs for those who participate in certain activities.
But those are ideas that the Vermont Legislature's two health care committees have discussed a lot in recent years," Racine said.
"I think it's a fine idea to reduce premiums for people who participate in wellness programs," Racine said.
But Racine was also perplexed by Douglas' suggestion that benefits should be "realigned." He said there have been some dis-cussions with the administration about increasing the Catamount Health deductibles from $250 to somewhere between $1,000-$1,250.
"There were no details today," Racine said. "This was a speech where Douglas told us all the things we can't do, but provided no other details."
Contact Daniel Barlow at Daniel.Barlow@timesargus.com.