(Host) Governor Peter Shumlin says his proposed budget charts the course for his promised single payer health care system.
But his budget also cuts payments to doctors and hospitals just as he’s trying to get their support for a government-sponsored health plan.
VPR’s John Dillon reports:
Governor Shumlin says his proposed budget charts the course for his promised single payer health care system.
But his budget also cuts payments to doctors and hospitals just as he’s trying to get their support for a government-sponsored health plan.
Shumlin’s budget saves $5 million by moving about 10,000 people who get health care through the state-subsidized Catamount program into an expanded Medicaid plan.
That doesn’t sit well with the Vermont Medical Society, which represents physicians. Paul Harrington is executive vice president of the organization.
(Harrington) "I’m concerned that this seems to be inconsistent. He identified early that he had to address the growing cost of Medicaid, and yet he’s proposing to add thousands of Vermonters to that very same program. It’s also going to have a significant impact on Vermont physicians, particularly primary care physicians. Under the Medicaid program, they will take a 30 percent cut in their reimbursement."
(Dillon) And other changes in the budget may make it more difficult for low income people to get medical care.
Peter Sterling is executive director of the Vermont Campaign for Health Care Security, which works to get people enrolled in the Catamount state-subsidized health plan. But under Shumlin’s budget, those enrolled in state-subsidized health care will face higher deductibles – from the current $500 to $1,200. Sterling says this may force people to forego preventive health care.
(Sterling) "I think this is a real bad, bad step in part because your out of pocket costs will be so much more that I think a lot of people are going to make a very basic financial decision that for a $1,200 deductible you might as well roll the dice and see if you don’t get sick."
(Dillon) The budget also raises a tax on Vermont hospitals. Bea Grause is CEO of the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems. She says the budget does not support Shumlin’s goal of making the health care system financially sustainable.
(Grause) "And we believe this budget goes in the opposite direction because it increases the tax on hospitals but reduced the net to hospitals."
(Dillon) Governor Shumlin delivered his budget address to a Statehouse dominated by his fellow Democrats.
Some in his own party are chafing at his pledge not to raise broad-based taxes to balance the budget.
But Republicans said they generally liked the governor’s approach, especially on taxes.
Still, Barre Republican Tom Koch questioned Shumlin’s priorities. He pointed out that Shumlin wants to fully fund a housing and land conservation program while cutting programs that serve the mentally ill.
(Koch) "I ask what’s more important: people’s lives and preserving their mental health, or buying land for conservation?"
(Dillon) The budget proposal will now be reviewed by the money committees in the House and Senate.
For VPR News, I’m John Dillon in Montpelier.