by Devon Green, VP of Government Relations, VAHHS I wouldn’t call last week light, but it offered a little bit of a breather from crossover as the health care committees wait for bills from the other chamber to land on their bulletin boards. The money committees, however, worked overtime on both the budget and BAA negotiations after the governor’s veto. We’ll have more information on those bills next week.
Budget: One notable item for the FY 2026 budget is that the $1M towards paying down medical debt under S.27 is out for now. This could be a matter of crossed wires between the budget being in the House and the policy bill being in the Senate. We will keep tracking the issue.
Health Care Economics: The House Health Care Committee heard from Steve Kappel from Policy Integrity with an overview of Vermont’s health care system and possible regulatory levers. Kappel noted things outside the scope of Vermont’s regulatory authority, such as self-insured employers, Medicare, and out-of-state spending. Dr. Elliott Fisher also testified on Vermont’s affordability challenges and supported universal primary care.
Adult Protective Services: Adult Protective Services provided an update to the House Human Services Committee on implementation of their new statute from 2023. APS noted that they are still working on bringing state laws into line with recent federal rules around the definition of neglect. APS noted that health care providers, including VAHHS have raised concerns about this definition and is working with them now to craft a solution.
Medicaid Update: The Department of Vermont Health Access provided an update on potential federal impacts to Vermont Medicaid. Topping the list of potential initiatives were rescinding the federal matching for the New Adult population under the ACA with an $80M impact, changing the federal matching percentages with an $18-19M loss per point, and limiting provider taxes to 3% with a resulting $252M in gross Medicaid cuts. DVHA estimated we should know more by the end of May or June.
Artificial Intelligence: Artificial intelligence experts Tania Malik from The Office of CEO and Michelle Hager of Blue Cirrus Consulting testified in front of House Health Care Committee and provided an overview of the current AI landscape in health care. They stressed that AI will not replace health care providers, but health care providers using AI will replace those that don’t. They also posited that current privacy laws, such as HIPAA, provide data protection. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont also presented data on coding trends.
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