by Morgan True vtdigger.org With school children opening today's legislative session with a song put to the words of the Gettysburg address, the featured moment on opening day was a speech to the Legislative health care committees by Governor Peter Shumlin.’
Governor Shumlin took full responsibility (SEE VIDEO BELOW) for the rocky rollout of Vermont’s health care exchange, but said it won’t affect the state’s move toward a publicly funded universal health care system.
Shumlin made his comments in a rare appearance before a packed hearing of the House and Senate health care committees in Room 11 on the first day of the legislative session.
‘No one is more disappointed than I am that we fell short in our rollout of the exchange, and I take responsibility for those failures,’ Shumlin said, but later added that he has never been more committed to ‘ushering in America’s first universal affordable publicly financed health care system right here in Vermont.’
The hearing kicked off with Rep. Michael Fisher, D-Lincoln, who chairs the House Health Care Committee, noting the rarity of a sitting governor addressing a legislative committee. He said the last time he could recall a similar move was during the tenure of Gov. Howard Dean, and it happened to be on the same topic.
Shumlin took the opportunity to make several announcements relating to his administration’s health care goals.
First, he said Agency of Commerce and Community Development Secretary Lawrence Miller would assist the Department of Vermont Health Access with the continued rollout over the next three months to see the state through the sign-up extension and the end of the federal open enrollment period, both of which are March 31.
Shumlin then announced that his administration would hire an independent third party to review the Vermont Health Connect rollout. Shumlin referred questions about who would do the review to DVHA Commissioner Mark Larson, who was scheduled to speak before the House Health Care Committee on Tuesday afternoon.
The independent reviewer will look at how the state can change its approach, staffing and management structures going forward to improve future projects, and see if there are specific lessons to be learned from the exchange rollout, Shumlin said.
He also laid out his four-part vision for what the Legislature’s role would be during the 2014 session:
‘ Work with the administration and other stakeholders to examine the cost and consequences of Vermont’s current health care system and recommit to achieving single-payer.
‘ Become experts on the ongoing efforts for cost containment and reform, and share that knowledge with the public.
‘ Facilitate discussion around a universal benefits package that meets Vermonters needs.
‘ Start developing a financing plan that will allow the shift from ‘health care premiums’ to a ‘publicly financed system based on one’s ability to pay.’
In explaining the decision to have Miller help oversee the continued rollout, Shumlin said that Larson, who has a good working relationship with Miller, requested his help because as the session gets underway, Larson will be called upon to spend more time at the Statehouse.
‘Frankly, until I was governor, I didn’t appreciate how much time (lawmakers) ask of commissioners and secretaries,’ Shumlin said.
Larson said he is not expecting new positions to be created as a result of Miller’s involvement.
‘This is an example of drawing from within,’ Larson said, noting that collaboration within the administration is nothing new and his department has worked closely with Miller’s department as well as the departments of Financial Regulation and Information and Innovation.
Miller will call on his staff to participate as needed, he said.
Pulling Miller in to work on the exchange solves one problem by creating another, said Darcie Johnston of the group Vermonters for Health Care Freedom, which has been critical of Vermont Health Connect.
‘We’re pleased to see the governor has taken our suggestion, (to hire a project manager for the exchange),’ Johnston said. ‘We don’t think Miller is the right person. We have, essentially, an economic development war on our western border with New York, and now we have no one at the helm.’
Johnston reminded reporters that her organization was the first to call for an independent review, but added she was disappointed Shumlin didn’t seek input from lawmakers on who should conduct the review.
In reaffirming his commitment to single-payer, Gov. Shumlin acknowledged his administration had work to do in rebuilding public trust in its ‘ability to do health care right.’
But he reminded the audience that the Affordable Care Act was a product of Washington compromise and not the state’s vision of health care reform.
‘Vermonters know health care reform is much more than a website. We also know that it’s much more than the Affordable Care Act,’ Shumlin said, adding that President Barack Obama once told him the ACA wasn’t what he had hoped it would be, either, and called on states be the laboratory for innovative change.
Presented with the ACA, Vermont had two choices, hitch their cart to the dysfunction of the federal government or ‘chose to take hold of our own fate,’ Shumlin said. Vermont chose the latter.
In doing so, more than 50,000 Vermonters have health care that offers universal benefits, and another 30,000 saw their premiums slashed to zero due to Medicaid expansion, Shumlin said. But despite those improvements, the present health care system still has fundamental problems.
The current system is a ‘teetering patchwork’ of payers, providers and consumers with high costs and poor outcomes that still creates incentives that reward volume over good health.
‘We cannot afford our current system and, therefore, we cannot afford to wait,’ Shumlin said.
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Shumlin's video presentation
TOP’VIDEO: Four sixth-graders from Maple Street School in Manchester and an eighth-grade rapper from Cambridge (N.Y.) Central School sang the second song in the series of educational music videos composed and produced by Sandy Wilbur on Tuesday. ‘Four Score and Seven Years Ago’ was performed in the House Chamber. The first song that was produced, ‘We The People’ was performed for the opening of the 2012 Legislative session.
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