Dive Brief:
- The state's abandonment of its single-payer healthcare plan has raised a question that was not widely anticipated.
- Vermont's Act 48, which was passed in 2011, provided a timeline that required small businesses (those with fewer than 100 employees) to obtain their policies through Vermont Health Connect. However, businesses with more than 100 employees, termed the "Large Group Market," were not subject to the same mandate.
- Large businesses were to be allowed to obtain their policies outside of the exchange until 2017, when Vermont was set to transition to a single-payer system. With that plan canned, the question is what will now be required of those large companies—and how they will impact the state's health insurance landscape.
Dive Insight:
Chairman Al Gobeille of the Green Mountain Care Board, which oversees healthcare in Vermont, says he is urging lawmakers to resolve the issue before they adjourn for the year. However, at the same time, he notes that there has been no analysis of the expected impact of requiring large businesses to enter the exchange.
Such a move would subject the businesses to new insurance mandates, which in turn could put upward pressure on insurance costs, Gobeille says.
"I think it's important to take a look at this population and say, 'What are the ups and what are the downs and do we want to do this?' Because the analysis is not done, and I think it has to be done before we just do something," Gobeille told Vermont Public Radio.