On Thursday, the House passed H.559, which fulfills a federal mandate to create a health care exchange where individuals and small businesses can shop for affordable coverage, by creating a competitive market to help lower costs. Unfortunately, the majority’s effort fell far short of meeting the objectives of the mandate and I could not support the bill. Below are the remarks I made on the floor against this measure.
As always, please feel free to contact me with questions or concerns.
Mr. Speaker,
I rise today in full support of the concept of a health care exchange. As the old maxim goes, I believe this is an idea that’s time has come. During the rigorous debate that occurred in Washington in 2009, opposing sides were passionately entrenched on nearly every detail of the President’s health care reform plan. There was little common ground, it got ugly and enveloped the nation for months.
Yet, even amidst the ideological struggle between those who thought the Affordable Care Act went too far, and those who believed it didn’t go far enough, the one concept that had broad support from both sides of the conversation was that of an exchange.
A marketplace where individuals, families and employers could make an informed choice on how to best provide the most basic protections, while insuring that those decisions, were still our decisions to make.
A robust, voluntary exchange has the potential to attract multiple providers and create a market that encourages competition, and enhances our understanding of exactly what our premium dollars pay for, while ensuring stability for those who are comfortable with the plan they have now.
When addressing congress in the summer of 2009, the President expressed his support for this very concept.
That day he described an exchange as “… a marketplace where individuals and small businesses will be able to shop for health insurance at competitive prices. Insurance companies will have an incentive to participate in this exchange because it lets them compete for millions of new customers. As one big group, these customers will have greater leverage to bargain with the insurance companies for better prices and quality coverage.”
Let me be clear, I am strongly in favor of health care reform and proud to stand firmly with the President’s idea of an exchange. I believe that the outline above would be a great benefit to all Vermonters.
However, the plan before us today does not meet those objectives. In fact, I believe that it undermines the very legislative intent of the federally mandated exchange in three simple and direct ways.
First, by not adjusting our community rating to the new federal standard, we continue to discourage providers from doing business in our state and we restrict Vermonters’ ability to engage in a competitive market that would lower costs and enhance choice and flexibility.
Second, by not making the exchange voluntary, we’re forcing many Vermonters who are happy with their health care into a new system that could increase their premiums or lower their quality of care.
It seems to me that if this version of an exchange is destined for success, why not let Vermonters’ voluntary involvement in it, be the proof of our work? Instead, we’re building a framework that forces families and businesses to trust us and considering the failure of Catamount Health, there is no reason they should.
Finally, this bill does nothing to address the single most important piece of health care reform: cost.
In his inaugural address, the Governor touched on this very point.
He said, “The rising cost of health care for Vermont’s middle class and small businesses provide an equally daunting threat to economic prosperity. Just ten years ago our little state was spending 2.5 billion a year to stay healthy. Today we spend over 5 billion. That increase represents an enormous hidden tax on families and small business across our state. If left untethered, the rising cost of health insurance will cripple us.”
Again, let me be clear, I am strongly in favor of health care reform and I stand firmly with the Governor on this point. I believe wholeheartedly that in Vermont, there is no greater challenge for us as a body, then to reduce the cost of health care for the people, families and businesses of Vermont.
This bill before us however, does nothing to that end. In fact, not only do we not know if this will save Vermonters on their premiums, we don’t even know how much this will cost or how it will be funded and won’t for another eleven months.
This is unacceptable and I cannot support any measure that writes a blank check to be paid with tax payer money.
Last spring this body voted to send Vermont on a path toward a single payer health care system. I believe that it is that goal, which has clouded our vision on this exchange and handcuffed our work on what could have been an incredible opportunity to come together for meaningful health care reform.
On that summer day in 2009, when Americans tuned into to watch the President make his case for health care reform to congress, he said:
“My guiding principle is, and always has been, that consumers do better when there is choice and competition.”
I truly hope that we will adopt these as our guiding principles, and defeat this bill.
Thank you.
Rep Dustin A. Degree
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