Obamacare and the Exchange Could Make Health Care Unaffordable for Some Vermonters

[cali]

<big snip>

On January 1, 2014, two state-subsidized health care programs — VHAP and Catamount — will cease to exist. The vast majority of VHAP subscribers, 80 percent, will be moved into Medicaid, the federal insurance program for low-income adults, their children and people with certain disabilities.

<snip>

Many patients will still be eligible for premium and cost-sharing assistance through a combination of federal and state subsidies — and in fact, thousands of Vermonters who currently aren’t enrolled in Catamount will be eligible for some state and federal subsidies, too. But thousands of others could end up paying more. That’s because the benefits under Obamacare aren’t as generous as what Vermont offered under VHAP and Catamount, which together insured roughly 50,000 Vermonters in 2012.

ermont is one of only two states even considering supplementing federal subsidies with state funds. Even so, advocates for low-income Vermonters are raising alarm about higher premiums and out-of-pocket costs under the new health care exchange.

Peter Sterling, the director of the Vermont Campaign for Health Care Security Education Fund, says those additional costs will cripple families living paycheck to paycheck and dissuade individuals from seeking health care they need. And deferred care leads to more sickness and higher medical costs for all.

<snip>

http://www.7dvt.com/2013obamacare-and-exchange-could-make-health-care-unaffordable-some-vermonters

[MannyGoldstein]

1. If ObamaRomneyCare was such a huge win for the 99%...

then it would have fully gone into effect before the 2012 elections

Although it did send insurer stocks skyrocketing as soon as it was passed.

[tridim]

4. As usual you're wrong about EVERYTHING.

Not surprized you don't know why the ACA didn't go into effect two years earlier. Very few teabagger types know either.

[MannyGoldstein]

9. Feel free to school me

I'm all ears, as they say.

[Laelth]

2. I thought Vermont was going the single-payer route.

What happened to that?

When we were having this debate prior to the passage of the ACA, its proponents argued that a specific amendment to it opened the door to single-payer for those states that wanted to try it. I thought that Vermont was one of those states.

I, on the other hand, argued that the ACA was specifically designed to prevent states from adopting single-payer. Here: http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Laelth/39

But before I say "I told you so," I am curious to know the status of single-payer in Vermont.

-Laelth

[cali]

3. It's due to begin in 2017

As Vermont continues its push to implement the nation’s first single-payer health insurance program, it remains unclear how the state plans to pay for the $1.6 billion annual cost of the program.

Vermont is developing its single-payer system to be active in 2017 if financing problems can be resolved, according to Mark Larson, commissioner of the Department of Vermont Health Access.

“We submitted the financing report in January, and then in February the governor, Speaker of the House, and president pro tem of the Senate agreed to appoint a commission to take the information from the report and continue to work on specific financing mechanisms, and so that work will be ongoing,” said Larson.

<snip>

http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2013/03/26/vermont-continues-push-toward-single-payer-system-without-funding-clari

[Laelth]

5. Good. I will be quite happy to be proven wrong on this subject. n/t

-Laelth

[cali]

6. You may not be proven wrong. I have my concerns

on the other hand there is a determination in the legislature and by the governor to get it done. thank goodness for the legislature.

[Bonobo]

7. I thought Obama invited states to work out their own solutions?

What happened to that? I distinctly remember him inviting states to come up with their own great solutions... isn't that exactly what Vermont did?

[cali]

8. Yes, but single payer in Vermont isn't slated to begin before

the exchange kicks in.