by Andrew Stein April 3, 2013 vtdigger.org On Tuesday, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin stepped into the national limelight with former senior adviser to President Obama, David Axelrod, to talk about health care reform and governor races across the country.
The two Democratic leaders joined Joe Scarborough and gang on MSNBC’ s ‘ Morning Joe.’
Shumlin touted the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, for the federal funds that it’ s bringing into the state.
‘ The great thing about the Affordable Care Act for Vermonters is we’ re going to take in hundreds of millions of federal dollars to help employers deal with struggling health insurance,’ Shumlin said. ‘ I can tell you that the biggest challenge for me as a small business person is the rising cost of insurance.’
Vermont is the only state in the country that is consolidating small employers and individuals into the same risk pool in the new health insurancemarketplace, Vermont Health Connect, come 2014. Small businesses are defined by having fewer than 50 employees and in 2016 that definition will change to fewer than 100 employees.
While some businesses have embraced administration’ s move to merge risk pools, many are concerned. And the Vermont Chamber of Commerce has repeatedly voiced its reservations over this move.
To watch Shumlin and Axelrod talk Obamacare and Democratic governor races, click video.
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy