Legislature endorses mandatory health insurance

[TexasTowelie]

After months of deliberations, state lawmakers on Saturday decided that all Vermonters should have to buy health insurance as of Jan. 1, 2020.

The House and Senate each agreed to a compromise version of H.696, which establishes a state “individual mandate” for health insurance in response to pending changes at the federal level.

It’s not yet clear how the state’s mandate will be enforced: Figuring that out will be the job of a working group that will make recommendations for legislative consideration in 2019.

But supporters say it’s important to keep the number of insured residents as high as possible in order to avoid big premium increases.

Read more: https://vtdigger.org/2018/05/12/legislature-endorses-mandatory-health-insurance/

[Hoyt]

1. Well, Vermont failed seeking single payer. Now, they are going to mandate insurance with no

enforcement mechanism or subsidies for those that can't afford to pay. Supposedly, that will be worked out in 2019 since no one could come up with an answer this year. God help them and us.

Wasn't just Vermont that failed -- California and Colorado couldn't figure out how to convince voters of merits of single payer. The argument that "we are already paying for it" just doesn't seem to work with enough people. It's the truth, but voters go nuts when someone starts talking about a big tax increase (even if it offsets what people, on average, are paying for).