Media Room

Times Argus/Rutland Herald Editorial: Catamount is just the beginning, November 4, 2007

State of Vermont Begins Marketing Catamount Health, Rutland Herald, November 2, 2007

Promoting Health, Times Argus, October 28, 2007

'My only coverage is skin' by poet Verandah Porche

State seeks those who qualify for Catamount Health, Burlington Free Press, May 16, 2007

Outreach workers to raise health insurance awareness, WVPR Radio, May 15, 2007

Vt. set to promote Catamount Health, Rutland Herald, May 16, 2007

Knock, knock: Catamount Health reps hitting streets, Associated Press, May 16th 2007

A Vermont Solution for Affordable Health Care: Catamount Health, July 10, 2007

November 4, 2007

Some Vermonters previously without health insurance began to receive coverage on Nov. 1 when the state's new Catamount Health program went into effect.

The program received a celebratory kickoff on Thursday with Gov. James Douglas and other officials gathering in Rutland to mark the day. But Vermont's new health care initiative involves more than Catamount.

Vermonters can gain access to Catamount through a single telephone number and Web site that connect them to Green Mountain Care. This is the portal they enter enabling them to sign up for any of a number of programs for which they might be eligible. Through Green Mountain Care, Vermonters can sign up for Catamount, the Vermont Health Access Plan, Dr. Dynasaur, or Medicaid, depending on their eligibility.

The goal is to provide universal, affordable coverage for Vermonters, and the inauguration of Catamount is a great stride forward. But more needs to be done.

House Speaker Gaye Symington pointed to one category of Vermonters not helped by Catamount. They are people who have coverage with deductibles so high that the policy does them little good. It is the sort of policy people take out to protect themselves against catastrophe, though the cost of deductibles generally denies them access to the system.

Getting access to the system is how people stay healthy, which is why a major component of the state's health reforms is the Blueprint for Health. The blueprint is a protocol for helping people better manage chronic diseases that constitute the largest portion of the state's health spending.

Legislators are watching the system closely to see how Catamount works in bringing coverage to people with no other options and also to determine the extent to which the problem of affordability continues to plague Vermonters.

At the launch of Catamount on Thursday Douglas and members of his administration focused their attention on the achievement of getting Catamount under way. A lot of work has gone into it, and increasingly Vermont is being seen along with Massachusetts and a few other states as a pioneer in health care.

There are several important principles underlying Vermont's plan. One is the goal of getting everyone into the system. That is why the state has mounted an ambitious outreach plan, including a significant advertising budget, to get people to sign up. Vermont differs from Massachusetts in that the latter mandates coverage, meaning individuals have to sign up for health insurance the way they do for car liability insurance. Vermont's outreach efforts are aimed at bringing people into the system without enacting a mandate.

Because we still have an employer-based system, the Catamount plan now requires all employers to participate, which is why employers who do not provide coverage are now required to contribute fees. Douglas has grumbled about these fees as a burden on business, but one of the principles of Catamount is that we must all share the burden, or else the health care crisis will never be resolved.

Vermont's plan also provides coverage comprehensive enough that Vermonters will be persuaded to have the preventive care that will keep them healthy — ("health care" rather than "illness care," as Symington put it). Vermont's health care reforms are based on the idea that real cost savings will come by keeping Vermonters healthier — by giving them the preventive and chronic care they need.

All of which will cost money, but as in so many important social reforms, it is necessary in health care to spend money to save money. The determination of legislative leaders to monitor the health care reforms they have enacted and to continue moving toward comprehensive and affordable care means they will be forced to look closely at the state budget and find the best uses of limited state resources.

Douglas, always mindful of the state's finances, will continue to serve as a brake on legislative enthusiasms, but it is important that the Legislature carry forward the work they have begun. Catamount is just the beginning.

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By Kevin O'Connor, Rutland Herald

November 2, 2007

RUTLAND – Officials agree that when it comes to helping all Vermonters have affordable health insurance, the state's new "Green Mountain Care" brand of government services is a good first step.

But when it comes to what's next, Gov. James Douglas and state legislative leaders, gathered in Rutland for a Thursday press conference, weren't speaking from the same script.

Douglas, House Speaker Gaye Symington and other state officials gathered here to announce the start of a $1.6 million marketing campaign for Green Mountain Care, a newly named group of free and low-cost services including the long-existing Dr. Dynasaur program for children, the Vermont Health Access Plan for adults and new Catamount health insurance for residents without coverage.

Douglas sparked laughter and applause when he unveiled one television commercial that featured a man saying he didn't need coverage.

"Look at me," the man said, "I'm as healthy as a horse."

That's when a computer-animated steed beside him collapsed in a comic pratfall.

"That's great, huh?" Douglas told 50 people gathered at Rutland Regional Medical Center. "If that doesn't get Vermonters' attention, I don't know what will."

The state hopes the ads will spur Vermonters without health insurance to call Green Mountain Care's new toll-free number, 1-800-250-8427, or log onto its new Web site, www.greenmountaincare.org.

Catamount coverage, which officially began Thursday, is for Vermonters age 18 or older who aren't eligible for Medicare, Medicaid or other existing government programs and, with some exceptions, have lacked private health coverage for at least 12 months.

That means Vermonters now struggling to pay for private insurance or dealing with high deductibles would have to cancel their current policies and wait a year before they could enroll in the new plan.

"We have much more work ahead of us to make sure all Vermonters have health care they can afford," Symington said.

Asked what the next step would or should be, lawmakers offered different answers.

Douglas, who vetoed the Legislature's first attempt at health care reform in 2005 and threatened to do so again before signing a compromise in 2006, said he was focused on promoting the current plan.

"For now, I want to make sure this is Job One," the governor said.

Symington already was thinking ahead to this winter's legislative session.

"How do we take this further?" she said. "That's what the Legislature will be talking about."

A joint House and Senate committee has spent the past six months holding a series of "Next Steps for Health Care Reform" public hearings in search of answers.

In addition, the Vermont Campaign for Health Care Security Education Fund — made up of the state offices of AARP, the National Education Association, the private nonprofit Bi-State Primary Care Association and the grass-roots Vermont Citizens Campaign for Health — says it will push lawmakers to let employers purchase Catamount coverage for their workers at the full monthly premium price, which now is $393 for an individual.

The state will spend $1 million in federal money and $600,000 of its own funds for its series of television, radio and newspaper ads, pamphlets and Web pages promoting Green Mountain Care.

The state has budgeted $463,335 to produce and another $467,740 to run the ads, which will appear for the next six weeks and then return after the holiday sales season. It also has allocated $207,790 for marketing management, $203,253 for materials development, $138,420 for research and focus groups, $76,750 for educating people who work with the uninsured and $59,192 for computer work.

An estimated 67,000 Vermonters — or about 10 percent of the state's population — lack health insurance. According to officials, half that number have been eligible for Medicaid or other long-existing services but haven't enrolled.

"Our goal," Douglas said, "is to encourage people to call the toll-free number or log onto the Web site."

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By Kevin O'Connor, Times Argus Staff Writer

October 28, 2007

There's a reason why Vermonters will soon face a multimillion-dollar marketing blitz for the state's new Catamount health insurance plan. But what that reason is depends on who you talk to.

The state is spending $1 million in federal money and $600,000 of its own funds for a series of television, radio and newspaper ads, pamphlets and Web pages to tell residents without medical coverage about its new subsidized program that starts Thursday.

In separate efforts, several private groups are promoting Catamount through their own meetings, fliers and Web sites. Unlike the state, they're not just targeting the estimated 67,000 Vermonters without health insurance — they're also aiming to propel lawmakers to extend health insurance to more people and businesses.

The state will unveil a series of print and broadcast ads this week to publicize its new "Green Mountain Care" brand of government services and its new Web site, www.greenmountaincare.org.

The state, with financial help from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, has budgeted $207,790 for marketing management, $203,253 for materials development, $138,420 for research and focus groups, $76,750 for educating people who work with the uninsured, and $59,192 for creation of the Web site.

"Green Mountain Care is a family of low-cost and free health coverage programs for uninsured Vermonters," the Web site says. "Some of the programs you may know – such as Dr. Dynasaur and Vermont Health Access Plan – and some are new, like Catamount Health."

The ads themselves — budgeted at $463,335 to produce and another $467,740 to run — are more animated. One commercial features a man saying he doesn't need coverage because he's as healthy as a horse. That's when his computer-drawn steed collapses in a comic pratfall.

Susan Besio, the state's director of health care reform implementation, hopes the ads will spur Vermonters without insurance to act.

"The goal is to get people to pick up the phone and call to see if they're eligible for coverage," Besio says.

Expansion plans

Several private groups are supplementing the state's efforts — for different reasons.

The four organizations involved in the Vermont Campaign for Health Care Security — including the state's largest teachers union and senior advocacy group — have raised more than $200,000 for their own efforts to educate Vermonters about Catamount and other public health programs.

"We knew in order for Catamount to be successful, we'd have to make sure there was robust enrollment," says Peter Sterling, executive director of the Montpelier-based campaign.

But signing up people for affordable coverage isn't as simple as it might sound. The state estimates that half of all uninsured Vermonters have been eligible for Medicaid or other long-existing services but haven't enrolled.

"You have to go and get these people to let them know they are eligible," Sterling says. "This kind of outreach takes so much time, the state could never possibly do all of it alone."

And so the four organizations — the state offices of AARP and the National Education Association, as well as the private nonprofit Bi-State Primary Care Association and the grassroots Vermont Citizens Campaign for Health — are paying field workers in Chittenden, Orleans, Rutland and Windham counties to seek out the uninsured. The campaign hopes by reaching everyone eligible for coverage, it can open up Catamount for others.

"If enrollment is robust, we think we can make a great case to the governor and Legislature to expand the program to more people," Sterling says. "We feel Catamount Health is a solid foundation to build a publicly funded universal health care plan on."

The campaign's toll-free information number — available on its Web site, www.catamounthealth.org — so far has logged more than 300 calls. Although some people think most uninsured "are unemployed people sitting around their house," Sterling says 75 percent of callers have been workers ("loggers, farmers, self-employed carpenters and plumbers, waiters and waitresses") or, in other cases, college students and their parents.

Sterling says some people don't understand that Catamount is limited to adult Vermonters who, with some exceptions, have lacked private health coverage for at least 12 months.

"The hardest part of this is getting the phone call from someone enrolled in a private insurance plan with a $500 monthly premium and a $2,000 deductible and having to tell them they're not eligible for Catamount. And we've gotten a lot of calls from business owners who want to buy this for their employees."

As a result, the campaign will ask state lawmakers in January to let employers purchase Catamount coverage for their workers at the full monthly premium price, which now is $393 for an individual.

"That's our No. 1 priority," Sterling says. "I believe most employers want to do the right thing if insurance was affordable."

Who's responsible?

The campaign isn't the only group asking state lawmakers to cover more people. But not all agree that expanding Catamount is the answer.

Dr. Deborah Richter, a primary-care physician who lives in Montpelier, is co-author of "At the Crossroads: The Future of Health Care in Vermont" and founder of Vermont Health Care for All, a nonprofit grass-roots group seeking publicly funded coverage for everyone in the state. Her organization is offering Catamount information on its Web site, www.vthca.org. But that doesn't mean Richter supports the specific plan for everyone.

"Catamount is a very nice insurance policy," Richter says, "but what about the majority of Vermonters? They can't hang on to the health insurance policies they already have because they can't afford them. This program does nothing for them. Besides that, we're not even sure how to pay for the people Catamount has promised to cover."

Vermont had hoped to use federal money to subsidize insurance for people between 200 and 300 percent of the poverty level, only to have the Bush administration balk. As a result, Gov. James Douglas and leaders in the Legislature have committed $3.5 million more in state money for Catamount this fiscal year, knowing it may cost another $7.5 million annually in 2009 and 2010.

Richter also questions the state's big ad budget, noting that Catamount, although created by lawmakers, two private insurers — Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont and MVP Health Care — are administering the coverage.

"I find it absurd that we're spending $1.6 million in taxpayer money to help a private industry sell its insurance products," Richter says. "Isn't that what the insurance companies' marketing departments are supposed to do?"

In response, state officials say their promotion isn't limited to Catamount.

"The state is trying to reach all of the folks who are uninsured and may be eligible for all of the state-sponsored programs that are available," Besio says. "Also, private insurance companies usually don't market a particular product. It's unique they are marketing Catamount."

Blue Cross and Blue Shield will run some print ads starting this week, while MVP Health Care is promoting Catamount on its Web site.

"And certainly we're working in cooperation with the state on their marketing," MVP spokesman Gary Hughes says.

Gov. James Douglas and House Speaker Gaye Symington are scheduled to unveil the state's television and newspaper ads Thursday in Rutland. The ads will run for six weeks and then return after the holiday sales season. They'll be joined in January by radio ads that the state has postponed as it searches for a listener-friendly phone number. (The current 1-800-250-8427 isn't as easily remembered as the Department of Tourism and Marketing's 1-800-VERMONT.)

Lawmakers adopted Catamount last year as part of a larger Health Care Affordability Act to curb costs, increase coverage and improve quality.

More than 2,800 Vermonters have called the state about the program and approximately 800 have applied for premium assistance since the start of enrollment Oct. 1. The state received all those calls even though, having seen problems with the start of the federal Medicare Part D prescription drug program, it purposely held off advance ads for Catamount.

"We made a conscious decision to wait because we wanted to have a month under our belts," Besio says. "We learned from the Medicare Part D experience."

Contact Kevin O'Connor at kevin.oconnor@rutlandherald.com.

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By Verandah Porche

Guilford poet Verandah Porche is filling out paperwork for the state's new Catamount health insurance plan — and writing about what it's like to lack coverage:

Uninsured though able for the moment

my body and I roll into golden age.


It's passing strange:

the vehicle and home I shuttle from have coverage.

Whack a fender, trip and fracture on my premises:

adjusters gauge the damage you endure

and dole out a sum.

Rest assured, I pay. I pay the premium.


Calculate the odds I gamble on:

my heart, a slot machine,

my dice, the density of bone;

my fear: it rhymes with answer;

the care I may postpone.


Risk is the lien on all I own or owe.

Luck is my doctor: touch and go.


Listen, my body's coverage is skin.

Thick or thin, my only coverage is skin.

Porche, 61, is chronicling the stories of fellow uninsured and underinsured Vermonters for the grassroots Vermont Citizens Campaign for Health, which is posting them on its Web site, www.universalhealthvt.org.

"Our purpose is to deepen people's understanding of the predicament of Vermont's uninsured and underinsured," Porche says. "I'm looking for people everybody can relate to, interviewing them and distilling their voices into testimonies. It's me sharing my tools with them and them sharing their story with me."

People who want to share their stories with Porche can call (802) 254-2442 or e-mail verandahporche@verizon.net.

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By Terri Hallenbeck, Free Press Staff Writer

May 16, 2007

MONTPELIER -- Clancy DeSmet and Carl Witke are two Vermonters who'd qualify for the state's new Catamount Health Plan.

Those with a stake in the health plan's success are revving up to find the other 30,000 Vermonters who could be helped by the plan.

Catamount, which kicks off in October, is designed to offer health-care coverage to some 30,000 uninsured Vermonters who don't qualify for other state health programs.

DeSmet, 32, of Montpelier is a recent law school graduate who is looking for a job and lacks health insurance. Witke, 38, of Worcester is a recently divorced, stay-at-home father whose $450-a-month insurance through his former job comes at a hefty price tag and will soon run out.

For Christmas, DeSmet said, his parents gave him a trip to the dentist and eye doctor. He and Witke said they'd jump at the chance to have less expensive, more thorough coverage under the Catamount Health Plan.

Finding DeSmet and Witke was easy. Peter Sterling, who is head of a group that is trying to make sure Catamount gets off the ground, plays wiffleball with DeSmet and is neighbors with Witke. The challenge for the state and others who want to see Catamount succeed is to find the other Vermonters who are eligible and persuade them to take part.

Tuesday morning, an eclectic assortment of people who don't always see eye to eye announced that they will work together to market Catamount. They all have a stake in the health plan's success.

The state has hired a marketing firm to reach the uninsured and has a $3 million budget to reach out to those eligible for Catamount, Medicaid and the Vermont Health Access Plan, said Susan Besio, the state's director of health care reform implementation.

That effort will combine forces with a newly formed coalition called the Vermont Campaign for Health Care Security Education Fund, which has secured a $100,000 grant to hire field workers to go into communities and help people apply for Catamount and other state health programs.

Other states have fallen short with programs that target the uninsured because they failed to go beyond traditional marketing methods, said Rep. Steve Maier, D-Middlebury, chairman of the House Health Care Committee.

A study last year showed that 61,000 Vermonters lack health insurance, Besio said. Half of them are eligible for Medicaid or other state health coverage, she said. The other half would benefit from Catamount. Seventy percent of the uninsured said they didn't seek the coverage because they didn't think they were eligible, Besio said.

"There's a perception that if they're working, they're not eligible," she said.

The more people who have health insurance, the better for everyone, Besio said. Those with insurance are more apt to receive more timely and effective care. Meanwhile, some of the cost of treating those without insurance is borne by those with insurance.

The Vermont Public Interest Research Group, a watchdog organization that is often at odds with the state over issues such as health care, is among those to join the coalition to help promote Catamount.

The reason: VPIRG wants to see Catamount expanded to offer more complete and affordable coverage to small businesses and would like Catamount to be a model for other states, Executive Director Paul Burns said. "First, we've got to have a program that's successful."

VPIRG secured a $50,000 grant to help promote and monitor Catamount, Burns said.

Though the coalition's goal is to expand Catamount beyond where the state is ready to go, Besio said she has no qualms about working with the group.

Sterling, executive director of the coalition, said the group's nonprofit status ensures that politics will not be part of field workers' jobs. However, he said, "A lot of these groups will be coming back next legislative session and trying to expand Catamount."

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Bob Kinzel, WVPR Radio

MONTPELIER, VT (2007-05-15)

(Host) A public-private partnership has been created to encourage Vermonters who don't have health insurance to sign up for one of the state's subsidized programs.

As part of the plan, outreach workers will be sent to communities throughout the state to help uninsured Vermonters better understand how the state programs work.

VPR's Bob Kinzel reports:

(Kinzel) It's estimated that roughly 61,000 Vermonters currently don't have any health insurance coverage. This represents about 10% of the state's adult population.

Beginning this fall, a new state program known as Catamount Health, will offer coverage to individuals who have incomes that are too high to be eligible for either Medicaid or the Vermont Health Access Program.

The goal of this new public private partnership is to spread the word about all of the state's health care programs. Studies indicate that half of all uninsured Vermonters actually qualify for VHAP or Medicaid but many don't enroll because they don't think they're eligible.

Susan Besio is the director of health care reform for the state of Vermont:

(Besio) "The folks that we are looking to encourage to get insurance - primarily people who find themselves in a situation where they can't afford it and or think that they don't need it - this is an important thing to have in your life for both health and financial reasons and also because it's really good for the state as a whole for all of our health acre costs and quality."

(Kinzel) Steve Maier is the chairman of the House Health Care committee. He says reform efforts have floundered in other states because these programs didn't include comprehensive outreach efforts:

(Maier) "One of the things that became very clear to us as we looked around at other states that have done or have tried to do work in health care reform is that you're not setting yourself up for success if you just do the same old things about advertising and marketing and enrolling people in your new health acre reform product. We looked at Maine. We looked at other states and it became clear to us that business as usual was not going to do it."

(Kinzel) Peter Stering is the executive director of the partnership. He thinks the outreach plan is the first step in a larger health care reform effort.

(Sterling) "We feel that with our field workers and with the state's effort at getting people enrolled we can make Catamount Health a widely successful program. And that will set the base for future reform in upcoming legislative sessions. Eventually our goal is to get everyone in Vermont health care that they can afford."

(Kinzel) The outreach effort will be funded initially with $150,000 in grants from several non-profit foundations.

For VPR News I'm Bob Kinzel in Montpelier

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Rutland Herald

Article published May 16, 2007

MONTPELIER — Information on the state's health insurance plans may be landing at Vermonters' doorsteps later this year.

State health officials and advocacy groups are set to begin an outreach campaign to the estimated 61,000 Vermonters who lack health insurance. On the top of the list of options that will be pitched to residents is Catamount Health, the state's new program.

Outreach organizers said they want to get creative because efforts in other states to promote new health care programs show that traditional methods of reaching the uninsured don't work.

"Some of the biggest criticisms of what other states such as Maine have done are that the same old advertising and marketing just doesn't work," said Rep. Steve Maier, D-Middlebury, who chairs the House Health Care Committee. "We realized that business as usual wouldn't do it."

The Vermont Agency of Human Services, which includes the state's Department of Health, will spend more than $3 million advertising its slate of programs, including Catamount, Vermont Health Access Plan and Medicaid.

Joining them in that effort will be the Vermont Campaign for Health Care Security Education Fund, a nonprofit that formed this year to help the state spread the word about Catamount and the other health programs.

Peter Sterling, the fund's executive director, announced during a Statehouse news conference Tuesday that the Public Welfare Foundation, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit that benefits human welfare causes, has given the group $100,000 to support the outreach.

Meanwhile, the Vermont Public Interest Research and Education Fund announced it has received a $50,000 grant from the Nathan Cummings Foundation to help implement Catamount and recruit Vermonters.

The grants will help the health care security fund hire community coordinators across the state to reach out to uninsured Vermonters eligible for the programs, Sterling said.

"We want to help make Catamount widely successful so that everyone in Vermont can get the health care they need," he said.

Some Vermonters are eager to sign up for the state's new plan, which will start offering coverage on Oct. 1.

Carl Witke, 38, is a recently divorced father of two from Worcester. He's unemployed now so he can stay home with his two kids. He gets his health coverage through COBRA, the program Congress established through the federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985. COBRA requires employers to let former workers buy health insurance through the company's plan for a defined period. In Witke's case, the plan costs him more than $450 a month and his coverage runs out in several months.

"It's the second biggest bill that I pay every month after my mortgage," he said.

Once the COBRA coverage runs out, Witke will be eligible for Catamount. His two children are covered through his ex-wife's job, but Witke will have no health insurance. He said he wouldn't know what to do without Catamount.

"It's good to have this as a safety net," he said. "I need some form of affordable health care."

Clancy DeSmet, 32, of Montpelier, is in a similar position. He is unemployed, lacks health insurance and is looking for a plan that will carry him over until he has a new job. His lack of coverage is directly affecting his life – this winter he was afraid to go skiing in case he was in an accident.

"For Christmas this year my parents actually bought me visits to the dentist and eye doctor and a physical," DeSmet said. "It's unfortunate that someone my age has to worry about being insured."

The Health Care Affordability Act of 2006 – one of the most-trumpeted pieces of legislation passed during the 2006 session – created the state's Catamount Health program, which seeks to reduce the number of Vermont's uninsured.

Susan Besio, the state's director of Health Care Reform Implementation, said the cost of Catamount premiums will vary, but for most residents it should be about $360 a month. Most of the savings will come about because Catamount members will pay very few "out of pocket" costs for medical trips, she said.

"It's very generous in that manner," she said. Besio said the cost of Catamount coverage will be income-sensitive. And it the program will offer services not included in many other insurance programs.

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Associated Press, May 16th 2007

MONTPELIER, Vt. -- If someone knocks on your door this summer and wants to talk about health insurance coverage, you may want to listen.

The state of Vermont will launch its new Catamount Health plan Oct. 1, hoping to reach nearly half of the estimated 61,000 Vermonters lacking health insurance.

Catamount is promising comprehensive health coverage, with very low out-of-pocket copays and other expenses. Full price will be about $360 to $370 per month, with people whose incomes qualify getting discounted premiums.

A host of groups _ including the state, Vermont Public Interest Research Group and the Bi-State Primary Care Association _ will be involved in an effort to train outreach workers encouraging enrollment in Catamount and the state's other public health programs, which are Medicaid and the Vermont Health Access Plan.

The marketing drive will not be devoted just to Catamount, but is designed to make Vermonters aware of whichever program would best serve them.

"The message is Vermonters need health insurance, and we've got something for you," said Susan Besio, the state's director of health care reform implementation.

The state will spend about $4.1 million promoting its public health insurance programs, including about $1.5 million for marketing, advertising, opinion research, Web site design and similar activities, she said Tuesday.

An additional $2.6 million will go toward revising the state's computer and communications systems to make them more interactive, Besio added. "Eventually our goal is to be able to have people do online enrollment and eligibility determination," she said. "It's a huge endeavor."

Among the private-sector groups involved in the effort is the Vermont Campaign for Health Care Security Education Fund. Its director, Peter Sterling, announced at Tuesday's news conference that it had received a $100,000 grant from the Public Welfare Foundation to help fund the team of outreach workers.

At the same time, VPIRG said part of a $50,000 grant it had received from the Nathan Cummings Foundation also would go toward the effort.

Clancy DeSmet, 32, of Montpelier, who has a law degree and a master's degree in environmental law but is unemployed and uninsured, is looking forward to being able to enroll in Catamount Health.

DeSmet said he is afraid to go skiing for fear of what it would cost him "if I blew out my knee." He said his parents bought him vision and dental checkups for Christmas.

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July 10th 2007

These days, it seems that too many of us have the high price of health care on our mind. In Vermont over 60,000 of our friends, co-workers and neighbors are currently uninsured. Here in Orleans and Essex Counties, over 6,000 people, fully18% of the population, does not have health insurance at all. Thousands more throughout Vermont are stuck in high $2,000, $5,000 and even $10,000 deductible “catastrophic” plans which offer no hospitalization coverage or primary care coverage. Many of these Vermonters are working for employers who do not (or should we say, are not able to) offer health insurance or cannot afford the insurance their employers offer.

As a first step to alleviate this crisis gripping Vermonters and Vermont business owners, in May 2006 the Vermont Legislature created the Catamount Health Plan. You could be eligible for Catamount Health if you are uninsured or have insurance that only provides hospital care or doctors’ visits (but not both) or if you have not had insurance in the past 12 months. If you have had health insurance, you must be uninsured for 12 months before you can enroll in Catamount Health. This 12-month waiting period will not prevent you from enrolling, however, because you lost your health insurance if you lost or voluntarily quit your job, got divorced, left college, no longer qualify for COBRA, and some other reasons. You are eligible for Catamount Health even if you are working.

The premiums for Catamount Health are based on your income and range from $60 a month to about $370 month. Vermonters who enroll in Catamount Health will have access to primary, preventive and acute care, a drug prescription benefit, mental health and substance abuse treatment, chronic care and hospitalization. Enrollment in Catamount Health begins on October 1st with the actual health benefit beginning November 1st.

To help Vermonters enroll in Catamount Health and Vermont’s Medicaid programs, AARP Vermont, the Vermont National Education Association, the Vermont Public Interest Research Group and the Vermont Citizens Campaign for Health joined together to form a new group, the Vermont Campaign for Health Care Security Education Fund. The Fund is working to get all eligible Vermonters enrolled in either Catamount Health, Medicaid, or VHAP (the Vermont Health Access Plan), Vermont’s Medicaid expansion program (It is a little known fact that estimates are that almost half of the 60,000 plus Vermonters who are uninsured are eligible right now for either VHAP or Medicaid).

This summer, I begin work as part of a team of field staff employed by the Fund to work throughout Orleans County to help educate Vermonters and Vermont businesses about eligibility for Catamount Health, VHAP and Medicaid. My organization will be doing similar work in Rutland, Windham and Chittenden Counties, all areas with large numbers of uninsured, to assure that Vermonters understand if they are eligible for one of the state’s health care programs and to assist them in the enrollment process.

Unlike virtually every other state in the nation, our elected leaders recognized that in order to make health care more affordable for all, first the state must guarantee that its uninsured citizens have access to affordable, high-quality health care. But as most health care professionals know, getting people enrolled in a public health program like Catamount Health is a daunting task. However, we in the Fund are confident that by coordinating our aggressive outreach and public education campaign with the State of Vermont’s efforts, we can help tens thousands of Vermonters get affordable, high quality health insurance.

Feel free to contact me if you would like me to speak to you, an organization you are involved with, your church or even your employees or co-workers about enrolling in Catamount Health, VHAP or Medicaid and who is eligible for these programs.

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