Lawmakers spent the session providing oversight on Gov. Peter Shumlin’s ambitious health care goals, and most of the new reform ideas came from the lawmakers themselves.

The House Health Care Committee dedicated time every week to chronic problems with Vermont Health Connect, and the committee’s signature bill this year was dedicated to accountability for Shumlin’s all-payer model of payment reform.

On the Senate side, lawmakers worked to slow the growing power of hospitals in the health care system. They spearheaded legislation to require notifying patients that their out-of-pocket costs might go up if their private doctors’ offices are acquired by hospitals, and they sought to pay hospitals less to dispense prescription drugs.

Both chambers dedicated time to addressing the high cost of prescription drugs, leading to first-in-the-nation legislation that will require drug manufacturers to justify when their prices increase dramatically.

Pharmaceuticals and Hospitals

Vermont’s became the first state legislature to pass a law requiring pharmaceutical manufacturers to provide information on how they set their prices. The companies oppose the measure and came all the way to Montpelier to testify against the bill, only to face stiff opposition from even the most conservative Republicans.

The first price transparency measure started in the House Health Care Committee as H.866. The committee chair, Rep. Bill Lippert, D-Hinesburg, pulled it back into committee in an effort to strike greater consensus on the panel.

With the clock ticking down, Rep. Bob Bancroft, R-Westford, offered price transparency language that the committee agreed would help limit the state’s exposure to lawsuits, then attached transparency language to S.216.

Republicans in the House backed S.216 unanimously, but the bill had no teeth to force compliance. Once the two chambers went to conference committee, the Senate added language that would allow the attorney general to take pharmaceutical companies to court if they don’t comply.

Continue Reading on Bennington Banner