By Peter Hirschfeld
Vermont Public Radio, Jan. 21, 2014
Vermont lawmakers are at a critical juncture in their quest for a publicly financed health care system. And theyâre bringing aboard a $10,000-a-month consultant to help them get it right.
The Legislature already has a small staff of fiscal analysts to call on. But as lawmakers undertake the most ambitious health care reform agenda in state history, theyâre spending some money on outside experts.
âWhen youâre talking about doing a $1.6 billion or $2 billion project or program, I think itâs appropriate to spend a couple hundred thousand dollars to look at whether weâre moving in the right direction,â said House Speaker Shap Smith.
Smith said the Legislature has some serious questions to answer before it can move ahead with single-payer.
The Shumlin Administration will use its considerable executive branch resources to design the governorâs single-payer proposal. But Smith said the Legislature has to do its own due diligence when it comes to figuring out how much the system will cost, and how taxpayers should pay for it.
So theyâve brought in a health care economist from Emory University to help them out. Ken Thorpe is no stranger to the Vermont Statehouse. Seven years ago, he helped the Legislature put together an insurance subsidy that would later become known as Catamount Health.
Thorpe is a national expert on health care policy, and he visited several legislative committees Tuesday to introduce himself and offer some initial thoughts on the work ahead. Thorpe said that if Vermont canât reduce the chronic diseases responsible for skyrocketing health care costs, then financing reforms like single-payer arenât going to solve the problem.
âSo at the end of the day, no matter where you want to go in terms of cost containment, if we donât have a statewide capacity to really prevent the growth in chronic disease and more effectively engage and manage chronically ill patients, the only other option you have for controlling costs is just by slashing payment rates,â Thorpe said.
With programs like the Blueprint for Health, Thorpe said that Vermont is already beginning to lower the enormous health care bills racked up by people suffering from conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure.
Smith said heâll be looking to Thorpe to determine whether Vermontâs current reform programs are reducing the rate of growth in health care spending fast enough. And if they arenât, then Smith said lawmakers need to reassess whether single-payer is such a good idea.
âEverybody agrees that we want to make sure that we have quality health care, weâre doing things to bring down the rate of growth for costs,â Smith said. âAnd if we donât have those two things, we donât want to move forward with the single payer.â
Thorpeâs four-month contract will keep him in Montpelier through most of the 2014 legislative session.
http://digital.vpr.net/post/lawmakers-tap-consultant-health-care-finance-review