Vermont House (AP Photo/Tony Talbot)
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Save the bronze plans.
Some speakers delivered that message here Wednesday at a hearing on Vermont efforts to implement the health insurance distribution exchange provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA).
The Vermont House Health Care and Senate Health and Welfare committees organized the hearing, which atracted about 80 people, to get public input on exchange development efforts.
This year, the House panel has been considering the first in what's expected to be a series of bills to implement that broad outline.
One provision in a bill now under disucssion would outlaw bronze plans -- health plans with high deductibles and relatively low premium costs.
Craig Fuller of the Vermont Employers Health Alliance presented a chart showing a Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont family coverage plan with a $5,000 deductible costing about $13,169 per year. A plan with lower deductibles costs $19,739 per year, he said.
Sara Byers, executive vice president of the Leonardo's Pizza chain, said the majority of businesses in her area's chamber of commerce use the bronze plans "because that's all they can afford."
Lawmakers also have been debating about whether to set the size limit for small groups at 50 employees or fewer or at 100 employees or fewer.
Some say setting the limit at 100 should lower costs by creating a larger risk pool. Others say the limit should be 50 or fewer, because larger businesses already are making progress at keeping health care costs down with wellness programs and high-deductible health plan designs.
Larger businesses should be able to decide whether to join the exchange, Byers said. "Businesses should be able to decide where to allocate their health-care dollars," Byers said. "If the exchange is better, businesses will use it."Peter Sterling of the Vermont Campaign for Health Care Security did not testify but offered a competing view in a corridor outside the hearing room. He said employers might like health plans with high deductibles, but he argued that employees can't afford to pay $5,000 out of pocket for care.
Some of those testifying urged lawmakers to forge ahead and push the state as close as possible to a Canadian-style, single-payer health system.
"I want them to go away from the exchange and go toward single-payer," Russ Bennett, president of NorthLand Visual Design and Construction, Waitsfield, Vt., said after his testimony. "We need to limit as much as possible insurance being in the middle."
Others said lawmakers and the administration of Gov. Peter Shumlin should talk more about financing and other details.
