Affordable Health Care for All

Catamount Health is the compromise plan worked out last year to bridge the gap between the governor’s insistence on reform coming from within the current structure and the Democratic push for a single payer-universal plan.
We’re moving forward with Catamount BUT, we’re also planning to implement a universal , single payer plan in 2012 if it doesn’t meet the desired outcomes.
What that means is we’re building a new structure for health care coverage in Vermont. It will address the concerns of inclusiveness, quality and cost control.
What we’ve done so far is pour the foundation and start the first floor of this new structure. Then, we’ll continue adding more floors until everyone is covered. If that happens with existing insurance companies, fine. If not, we have Plan B waiting to step in.
Phase One of implementation starts in October.
This will allow those who have been without any health insurance for the past 12 months to sign up and avail themselves of health care coverage.
Catamount Health will provide a comprehensive set of health services, with the premium depending on income. To find out if you qualify go to www.hcr.vt.gov or call 1-800-250-8427.
Next session the legislature will turn more attention to how to make insurance more affordable for those who currently have insurance but are paying too much.
Prescription Drugs S.115, An Act Relating to Increasing Transparency in Prescription Drug Pricing and Information, directly addresses the fastest rising health care spending sector, prescription drugs. On average, each Vermonter spends $1,000 on prescriptions annually, of which 38% is out-of-pocket.
S.115 regulates Pharmacy Benefit Managers, drug marketing, prescription drug data mining, and will lower prescription drug costs. It includes a Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Fee that raises over half a million dollars to fund its cost containment provisions. These include: academic detailing, generic status notification, and a Generic Sample Pilot Program. All told, the opportunities for savings are in the tens of millions of dollars. Transparency, consumer protection, cost containment, prescriber privacy, and evidence-based prescribing are the guiding principles of S.115. This bill is another important step in overall health care reformAdd your content here