Occupy The Golden Dome? 99% prep for State of the State

We just got an email from the Occupy Vermont movement, which is planning to occupy the State of the State address this Thursday. The email says:

Silently displaying their feelings about details of the Governor’s assessment of the state of the State, using hand signals indicating approval, disapproval or withheld judgment, Vermonters from around the state will line the House chamber to occupy the state of the State address on the third day of the 2012 legislative session.

Dressed in green, with personal messages for the Governor taped to their chests, Vermonters identifying themselves as the 99% will make themselves visible in a peaceful and respectful demonstration of their position at the center of government.

The point, organizers say, is to draw attention to the needs of the regular people of the state, who are hurt most by the budget cuts.

occupycentralvt.org

Fisher named new Health Care Committe Chair

MONTPELIER – Rep. Michael Fisher was named the new chairman of the House Health Care Committee on Thursday, putting him in position to play a lead role as the lawmakers and the governor continues their effort to establish a universal health care system.

House Speaker Shap Smith appointed Fisher because the chairman of the committee, Rep. Mark Larson, resigned from the Legislature in August to become commissioner of the Department of Vermont Health Access.

Fisher, a Democrat who represents Bristol, Lincoln, Monkton and Starksboro, has served in the Legislature since 2001 and was vice chairman of the House Health Care Committee in the most recent session when lawmakers and Gov. Peter Shumlin passed a landmark health care reform bill.

Rep. Sarah Copeland-Hanzas, a Democrat from Bradford, will become the committee's vice chair.

Fisher, a social worker in Addison County, said he is excited to advance the state's health care reform effort.

“Reducing health care costs and improving access to quality care is vital to the health and economic well-being of the state, and I am confident in the ability of the committee to dig into that work,” he said in a news release.

- Thatcher Moats

Entergy lawyers order "hold" on state records

In a legal maneuver that bars state officials from deleting or tampering with any documents related to Vermont Yankee, lawyers for Entergy have placed a so-called “litigation hold” on the entire Vermont Legislature and much of state government.

In a confidential letter delivered to lawmakers Friday, Assistant Attorney General Kyle Landis-Marinello warns elected officials to leave untouched any Yankee-related documents. The requirements are “serious and sobering,” according to the letter. Lawmakers could face “harsh sanctions,” he says, if the orders are flouted.

The litigation hold applies to both paper and electronic documents, including correspondence, e-mails, Word or Excel files, photographs and video and audio recordings. Documents dating as far back as 2001 are subject to the order.

“E-mails may be the most difficult category of information to preserve, so you should identify relevant e-mails and prevent them from being lost or destroyed,” the letter says.

The hold also affects “anyone who has engaged in paid or unpaid contractual work or consultation for or on behalf of your office in any matter, docket, or communication involving Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee LLC or Entergy Nuclear Operations Inc.”

Also affected by the action are the Department of Public Service, the governor’s office, the Public Service Board, Agency of Natural Resources and office of the Attorney General.

Health care bill debate goes late; Buy local contracting rules;

The fate of H.202 in committee was fairly certain last night; the committee was set to reconvene at 10 p.m. to hash out final details before voting it through. We'll have an update on that status this morning. Details as of 9 p.m. last night are in Pete's story here.

Health care workers came to the capitol Wednesday to testify against another health-care related issue: the provider tax.

More than 250 doctors, nurses and volunteers visited Montpelier on Wednesday to tell legislators why they think a proposed tax increase on health care providers is a bad idea.
Among them was Kristin Baker, who takes pride that the emergency department at Fletcher Allen Health Care, where she is nurse manager, is the only one in the state to offer specialized emergency-room care. But she told lawmakers that some of those services would be eliminated if Gov. Peter Shumlin’s proposed tax increase on hospitals goes into effect....

And while we're on taxes:

Tax the rich, spread the pain

House lawmakers on Thursday sought to rally support around a new tax proposal that could raise as much as $50 million in revenue next year by tapping the incomes of middle- and upper-class Vermonters.  At an informal meeting shortly after noon, about two dozen legislators listened to a presentation by the main architects of the plan. Rep. Johanna Leddy Donovan, a Burlington Democrat, said the Legislature cannot abide the $44 million in human-services cuts proposed by Gov. Peter Shumlin....

And Thatcher Moats writes about a new kind of buy local:

Anthony Pollina is proposing favoritism for Vermonters where state contracts are concerned.

On the campaign trail last fall, candidates of every political stripe said creating jobs to help Vermonters rebound from the Great Recession was a top priority. Sen. Anthony Pollina, a Washington County Democrat, believes a bill he has introduced this year is an opportunity for lawmakers to follow through on those promises.  Pollina is the lead sponsor of a “hire local, buy local” bill that would require state government to hire Vermont workers and buy local food as it spends taxpayer money.

Legislators honor fallen marine

Legislators gathered along State Street in Montpelier and on the steps of the Statehouse Thursday to honor the memory of a Marine from Danville who was killed in Afghanistan.

The remains of Cpl. Ian Muller, who was killed Friday in Afghanistan, were returned to his Vermont family Thursday morning and transported from the Burlington International Airport to Saint Johnsbury. The public was invited to line the route to honor the 22-year-old.

The House recessed in order to honor Muller as the motorcade passed outside.

“It is a heartfelt response from all legislators to be gathered out here today,” said Rep. John Moran, a Wardsboro Democrat.

As the motorcade approached, the crowd quieted and all other traffic was stopped as the hearse, escorted by seven state police cars, passed in front of the capital building.  Many legislators put their hands over their hearts and an American flag was held up.

“Service members do not ask much from us and this is us being able to show them the respect that they deserve,” said Rep. Peter Fagan, a Rutland Republican.

A wake will be held on Friday and a funeral will be held Saturday, both in Saint Johnsbury.

Scholarship to honor popular Londenderry rep

It’s only been a little more than a year since Rep. Rick Hube, the Republican from Londenderry, passed away while visiting family in Florida.

But his innumerable friends have already met the ambitious fund-raising target for a new scholarship program established in his name.

This past weekend, according to Rep. Oliver Olsen, a Jamaica Republican, the scholarship fund hit the $100,000 mark.

“We hit the goal we needed to meet to properly endow the fund,” said Olsen, a close friend of Hube’s who was appointed by then-Gov. James Douglas to fill out the remainder of Hube’s seat (Olsen won the two-year term in his own right in November).

The money will be used every year to help send one student from Hube’s five-town district to the University of Vermont.

Olsen called the scholarship a fitting tribute to a lawmaker who cared deeply about education.

“We felt this was a great way to remember Rick, and ensure that his memory lives on,” Olsen said.

The parameters of debate

He's saying that the leading option to pay for this health care plan is through a payroll tax - although one parameter is that the plan will not increase spending for employers and workers, but also will not reduce the net payments to hospitals, doctors, and other providers. He's also saying that there will be no change in Medicare benefits.

He's also proposing savings through tort reform - "That's why I have many friends who refuse to return my calls - and these friends are trial lawyers." - which is, in laymen's terms, reforming the liability process for the health care system. This was a flash point in the national debate over health care in 2009.

One part of this report is how comprehensive the insurance coverage should be - should it cover long term care benefits for the elderly? How about additional dental and vision coverage? He's saying that the full boat - comprehensive coverage including all of them - will be too expensive.

 

Hsiao is projecting health care savings between $330 million and $590 million by 2015, and between $1.3 billion and $2.1 billion by 2024, but said he plans on using some of that savings to expand some kinds of coverage - like medical and dental - and upgrade everyone to a standard essential package.

Hsiao's options

So far, Hsiao has set the stage for the need of health care, and is now talking through the three options he was tasked to develop under Act 128, which break down into:

1. Government-run Single Payer system with comprehensive benefits (one scenario) or Govt.-run Single Payer with 'essential' benefits package (second scenario

2. Public option - Government provides health insurance to all Vermonters

3. Public-Private Single Payer - includes essential benefit package, independent board and a third party to manage provider relations and claim adjudication and processing.

The third option is what he will be recommending - and emphasized that it's dependent on what the state can afford, how people will pay, and what kind of operation can we sustain?

He is also said 'single-payer is like beauty - it is in the eyes of the beholder', so he's offering a definition: "A system that offers coverage for every Vermont resident with a common benefit backage and channels all payments ro providers through a single pipe with uniform payment rates and common claim processes and adjudication procedures."

Health Care testimony begins

We're here in the Statehouse for the beginning of Dr. William Hsiao's presentation of his draft report; Gov. Peter Shumlin gave an introduction that recalled his initial conversation with the Harvard School of Public Health researcher, who told Shumlin he'd given up on Americain terms of health care reform.

"Vermont is different," Shumlin says he told Hsiao.

Speaker Shap Smith is saying that Hsiao has helped design the health care systems of Taiwan and eight other countries, and introducing Hsiao.

So far, three standing ovations, including the obligatory one for the Governor.

Political stars shine on single-payer

It was a photo-op for the ages in Montpelier this morning, when all three members of Vermont’s congressional delegation joined Gov. Peter Shumlin in his ceremonial office in the Statehouse.

At issue: the federal waivers Vermont will need to move ahead with the single-payer health-care plan Shumlin promised voters during the gubernatorial campaign. The “Affordable Healthcare Act,” a.k.a. the federal health-care bill, is filled with mandates that could impede Vermont’s ability to construct a single-payer plan. Sens. Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders and Rep. Peter Welch vowed to fight for the waivers Vermont needs to move ahead with the plan.

They’ll have to convince congressional Republicans – who would like to repeal the health-care bill altogether – to go along with their proposal. Eric Davis, professor emeritus of political science at Middlebury College, noted in a phone call this afternoon that the delegation’s argument for waivers – which amounted to a Federalist cry for state rights – seems to have been crafted for a Republican audience.

“The argument they’re making about federal waivers seems to be one they’re adapting to the new dynamic in Washington,” Davis says. “What they’re saying is, okay, if Republicans in the House think states should have more decisions about the way health care is delivered, then the same argument about decentralization and letting states make more of their own decisions should also apply to Vermont.”

Davis noted that Sanders, on issues surrounding the Federal Reserve, has forged some unlikely alliances with rock-rib Republicans. They might find similarly overlapping views on states’ rights to craft their own health-care designs.

“Allowing states more leeway in figuring out the best way to deliver health care could be another one of these issues that brings Democrats and Republicans together,” Davis says.