Senator sends healthcare caution

If you’re like me, you believe when government decides to do something it should do it well. Because the Catamount health care program has been left solely to the private insurance companies, taxpayers and small businesses are throwing away millions of dollars a year. It’s time to stop this waste.
Three years ago, the Legislature considered and rejected a public Catamount option to compete against Blue Cross/Blue Shield and MVP. Consider our experience since then.
In 2006 the Legislature’s health care consultant projected the unsubsidized premium for Catamount would be $279 per month. Because reimbursements would be tied to Medicare rates, he projected an annual growth rate in premiums of 3.5% to 4.5%.
However, since Catamount began in 2007, we’ve had a very different experience. The premium awarded to BC/BS and MVP for 2008-09 was $393/month, a whopping 35% more than worst-case projections. And just three months ago, MVP announced it was requesting a shocking 31% increase for 2009-10.
I expect you’ll agree with me that a competing public Catamount option would not have the gall to seek a 31% upcharge over worst-case projections. Worse yet, the privatized Catamount experience is totally inconsistent with trends in health care spending:
• BISHCA’s January 2009 health expenditure survey pegged Vermont’s 2007 growth in health care spending at only 4.5%. 
• A June 2008 article in the New England Journal of Medicine reported the per person cost of Massachusetts’ Commonwealth Care was $352.43 a month, compared to the $393.11 allowed for Catamount, despite the fact Massachusetts’ per capita health costs are above the national average, while Vermont’s are 90% of national.
• Finally, a study of President Obama’s original health care proposal conducted just months ago by the Lewin Group put the 2009 cost of an unsubsidized single premium for a policy comparable to Catamount at $298/month – a level comparable to Dr. Thorpe’s estimate adjusted by his worst-case rate of growth. 
I hope Congress will learn from Vermont’s experience and include a public option its reform plan. If not, here in Vermont we’ll need to revisit a public Catamount option to save millions for taxpayers and businesses. We literally cannot afford not to.

Sincerely,
Senator Tim Ashe