The premium effects of individual mandate repeal and new rules governing short-term insurance are smaller and more varied than the CAP study suggests. Some people will see premiums somewhat higher than they otherwise would be, but others will pay less for insurance.
While Vermont made an early, pioneering bid to make health-care costs more transparent, via its VHCURES and Health Care Price Transparency database, how has it fared in the wake of Colorado’s big leap forward in transparency this year?
Who are the healthy? Primarily our young people. And why must they be forced, on pain of penalties, to buy what for them is seriously overpriced health insurance? Because our state government doesn’t want to have to raise tax dollars to subsidize the far higher premiums of older and sicker people.
Gov. Phil Scott promised not to raise new taxes or fees, especially for young Vermonters, but a new law requiring Vermonters to carry health insurance is set to impose new penalties on many residents of the state.
This month Vermont became the first state to allow the importation of less expensive drugs from Canada, but local critics say the move has no chance of federal approval, and could lead to a dangerous flood of counterfeit medicines.
By approving the wholesale reimportation of U.S. prescription drugs from Canada, the Vermont Legislature passed an illegal measure that will not lower drug prices. Instead, it will subject Vermonters to public health risks and new taxes to defray an inevitable federal lawsuit.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., former chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, has voted against a $52 billion reform bill for veterans’ health care that gives desperate patients increased access to private doctors and private hospitals.
A bill that would require all Vermonters to have health insurance has made its way to the governor’s desk, but it’s uncertain that Republican Gov. Phil Scott will sign it, since it likely would use a revived Individual Health Effort Tax as a penalty.
Since Gov. Scott relishes vetoing new taxes, he needs to nip this new tax program in the bud and let the legislators who bought into this mandate scheme think about how they’ll explain their votes to override his veto when they’re out campaigning this fall.
New data from insurance company regulatory filings show that enrollment in the individual health insurance market declined significantly last year — by 10 percent, or 1.8 million people.
Last Saturday the Vermont House and Senate finalized approval of a stupid and odious bill to impose a mandate on every Vermonter to buy overpriced state-approved Obamacare health insurance.
Marchand says there’s no silver bullet for cutting down on opioid addiction and death rates in Vermont. “Such a state tax would only harm patients who need the drugs without reducing addiction,” he said.