Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility presented its annual Legislator of the Year award last week to two lawmakers responsible for shepherding the state’s historic health care law, Act 48, through the Statehouse.
Sen. Claire Ayer, D-Addison, and former Rep. Mark Larson, D-Burlington, received the award at VBSR’s 2011 fall conference Nov. 16th at Mount Snow in West Dover. Ayer is the chair of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee and Larson chaired the House Health Care Committee.
“I worked with Sen. Ayer and Rep. Larson this year while presenting VBSR’s position on health care reform,” said Don Mayer, the chair of VBSR’s Public Policy Committee and the CEO of Small Dog Electronics. “These two legislators listened to Vermonters carefully as they crafted and passed this bill. We would not have the best health care law in the country if it were not for their leadership.”
The VBSR’s health care policy calls for a system that covers all Vermonters, decouples insurance from employment, is based on a person’s ability to pay and cuts unnecessary waste and spending. Act 48 puts Vermont on the path to enacting those reforms.
Brian Dunkiel, VBSR Board Chair and the co-founder of Burlington’s Dunkiel Saunders law office, congratulated Ayer and Larson for taking bold action on health care reform and working to create a new system that will allow businesses to expand, hire, and increase wages. Rising health insurance costs are one of the most uncontrollable elements of business overhead and is forcing Vermont companies and their employees to make difficult choices, he said.
“Economic development in our state is very closely tied to the solution of this worsening problem,” Dunkiel said. “The leadership of Sen. Ayer and Rep. Larson ensures that Vermont will find that solution.”
Larson stepped down from the Legislature this summer to become commissioner of the Office of Vermont Health Access, where he continues to work on health care reform. Ayer will continue chairing the Senate Health and Welfare Committee next session. She was unable to attend VBSR’s fall conference and Sen. Kevin Mullin, R-Rutland, the vice-chairman of the committee, accepted the award on her behalf.
VBSR looks forward to the upcoming Legislative session and working to rebuild Vermont post-Irene, securing a clean energy future for the state, enacting effective economic develop strategies and continuing on the road to health care reform.
