Gov. Phil Scott has vetoed S.190, a healthcare bill designed to fast-track premium savings for two groups of insurance customers: public school employees and people buying plans on Vermont’s Affordable Care Act marketplace. The bill was one of the few healthcare reform initiatives the Legislature passed this session. It would have sped up the state’s ability to begin using a cost-saving tool called reference-based pricing, but only for those two groups of insurance buyers. In a Tuesday letter explaining his decision, Scott said he intends to use executive action to instead push forward parts of an insurance reform bill his administration put forward this session.Scott cited fairness throughout the insurance marketplace as the primary reason for his veto. “Vermont will not solve its affordability crisis by directing savings to some payers while excluding others,” he wrote in his Tuesday letter. “Lasting progress will require structural reforms that expand affordability, increase choices, and ensure savings are shared broadly across the system.”
Rep. Alyssa Black, D-Essex Town, who chairs the House’s healthcare committee and championed S.190, was incensed that the governor vetoed a bill she said his administration had been integral to creating, alongside her and other healthcare policy experts.
