Should Vermont lawmakers take action to help pay for Vermonters’ health insurance … in 2026?
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Congress expanded tax credits to help Americans pay for health insurance plans sold on states’ Affordable Care Act marketplaces — here, it’s Vermont Health Connect. Without action from federal lawmakers, however, those tax credits will expire at the end of 2025 — potentially putting thousands of Vermonters on the hook for thousands more dollars in annual health care costs.
According to national advocacy group Keep Americans Covered, of the 30,000 Vermonters who purchased individual health insurance plans on Vermont Health Connect in 2024, 27,000 received tax credits to help pay for those plans.
Without the credits, those 27,000 Vermonters would pay, on average, $2,660 more per person per year, according to the group.
“My opinion, given who Congress is and the presidency, is that we plan for the reality that we won’t have enhanced tax credits next year,” Chief Health Care advocate Mike Fisher told lawmakers in the House Committee on Health Care Wednesday afternoon.
Some lawmakers floated the possibility of doing something to mitigate those losses. But the timing, as committee members noted, is somewhat tricky: Congress has 11 months (and change) to extend those credits, or adjust them in some way.
Vermont’s legislative committees, meanwhile, have just a few months to do their work. And by the time the session ends, Congress may not have addressed the issue — and it may not be clear whether it will before the end of the year.
With no action from the feds, “what if they go away on Dec. 31?” Rep. Leslie Goldman, D-Rockingham, said. “You know, when are we gonna know, and how are we gonna respond?”
But, given the state’s limited resources, what could Vermont lawmakers even do about it?
“The answer is money,” Rep. Lori Houghton, D-Essex, the committee’s former chair and the current House majority leader, said — meaning, appropriating funds would likely be the only realistic strategy. “I mean, let’s be clear with (what) the answer is.”
— Peter D’Auria
In the know
At a lunch hour press conference, Attorney General Charity Clark highlighted the recommendations of the Domestic Violence Fatality Review Commission, which issued its 2024 report Tuesday.
Among the requests: a study committee on addressing access to firearms, creating victims services positions in local law enforcement agencies, expanding accountability programming for potential offenders and expanding the use of “lethality assessments” to determine domestic violence risk.
Of 29 homicides in 2023 — the year studied in the report — 7 were related to domestic violence. Clark praised the commission’s work, noting that its previous recommendations were almost entirely supported by the Legislature in years’ past.
“When I was first running for office, what I found was that many people did not associate public safety with domestic violence,” Clark said, “but what we know is that domestic violence affects many, many Vermonters. And it is an epidemic that happens behind closed doors.”
— Ethan Weinstein
Tax revenue from tobacco products is beating state economists’ expectations, they told the state’s Emergency Board Wednesday — a trend attributable to the surging popularity of nicotine pouches, such as Zyn. But Vermont could be missing out on even more revenue, the economists said, because of how the state defines nicotine products.
The economists said that while Zyn products contain nicotine derived from tobacco — which means they’re taxable as “new smokeless tobacco” under state law — other brands of nicotine pouches use synthetic nicotine, meaning no tobacco is used in the manufacturing process.
Nicotine pouches of all types are becoming more popular in large part thanks to social media influencers — or, rather, “Zynfluencers,” they added in a report to state lawmakers that, frankly, went on to provide a surprising level of detail.
On platforms such as TikTok, they said, “‘Zynfluencers’ document their daily use of ‘lip pillows’ and have even created a verb for their use: ‘#Zynning,’” adding that the hashtag “#ZYN reached 700 million views on TikTok alone in early 2024.”
Read more about their full economic forecast for lawmakers here.
— Shaun Robinson
State officials unveiled the broad strokes of Gov. Phil Scott’s education proposal Wednesday, a plan that includes sweeping changes like consolidating Vermont’s dozens of school districts to just five and adopting a foundation formula.
“We know that the work that we’re describing here is going to be really challenging,” Zoie Saunders, Vermont’s secretary of education, said. “I ask you to join us so we can be bold together.”
Scott first hinted at the proposal during his inaugural address earlier this month, including a shift to a foundation formula and a change in school governance structures. In a foundation formula, districts are provided a base amount of money per student. Read more about the plan here.
— Ethan Weinstein
Meanwhile, next door, Vermont’s Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a case challenging Scott’s appointment of Saunders to be the state’s interim education secretary last year, after her initial appointment was rejected by lawmakers.
Plaintiffs Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky, P/D-Chittenden Central, and the now-retired Sen. Dick McCormack, D-Windsor, appealed the dismissal of the lawsuit in Superior Court in September.
With the lawsuit pending, Scott reappointed Saunders to the position in November in a permanent capacity. Her current term concludes on Feb. 28, after which Scott could re-appoint her and again seek Senate confirmation. Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden Central, has proposed holding off another confirmation vote for Saunders until later in the session. Read more here.
— Peter D’Auria
Read the story on VTDigger here: Final Reading: Lawmakers contemplate the end of expanded federal health insurance subsidies.