As predicted, the debate over H.559 – legislation that will, beginning in 2014, establish Vermont’s health benefits exchange – turned on party lines Thursday as House Republicans used a floor debate to hammer home their misgivings about the bill.
The GOP is concerned chiefly about the involuntary mandates contained of the legislation. Federal law requires each state to have a health benefits exchange, but doesn’t require anyone to actually purchase their insurance from it. The Shumlin administration and House Democrats, by contrast, are forcing all individuals and all businesses with 50 or fewer employees – about 96,000 Vermonters total – to buy from the exchange. Continue reading