A central figure in Vermont health care reform efforts plans to leave the center of the fray this spring.
Green Mountain Care Board member Robin Lunge submitted a resignation letter to Gov. Phil Scott in December that’s set to take effect in early April, she said Friday. She attributed the move to a desire for a change in her professional life.
“I’ve been in state government for quite some time,” Lunge said, noting the different phases of her more than 20 years working in various areas of state health care policy. “It has been my life’s work serving Vermonters.”
Prior to joining the care board in 2016, Lunge worked for Gov. Peter Shumlin as the state’s director of health care reform during his push to develop a statewide single-payer health care plan. In that role, she helped develop the framework intended to revamp the state’s health care system, including the creation of the Green Mountain Care Board. Prior to that she worked for the state Legislature, advising its members on legal matters related to health and human services.
When the single-payer plan proved too costly, Lunge became a lead negotiator with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on a bespoke Vermont-only “all-payer” agreement that gave the state unusual flexibility in how some of the health payments that flow through those federal insurance programs are utilized.
Shumlin first appointed Lunge to the care board. Scott reappointed her to a one-year term in 2022 and then a six-year term in 2023.
The state is already seeking Lunge’s replacement for the high-profile job, listing the position this week. The five-member board oversees a wide variety of actors in the health care system, with purview over hospital and accountable care organization budgets, insurance rate requests and any significant capital investment in health care facilities.
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Board members are paid by the state — just under $130,000 for 32 hours per week — and receive state benefits, according to the posting. By statute, board members are chosen by the governor from a short list developed by a nominating committee, composed of nine representatives from the administration and both chambers of the Legislature.
During Lunge’s tenure, the care board has gone through significant personnel changes, with two new members — Thom Walsh and David Murman — appointed in 2021 and 2022, as well as a new board chair, Owen Foster, appointed in 2022. Since that time, the board has become more aggressive in pushing back against rising hospital prices and in questioning the efficacy of the “all-payer” model, which relies on an accountable care organization to execute many of the reforms.
OneCare Vermont, the state’s only “all-payer” accountable care organization — meaning it has contracts with both public and private insurers, announced that 2025 would be its last year in operation. This year is also the last year of Vermont’s unique federal agreement.
Vermont has been accepted into a successor program, called the AHEAD program, and must decide by June whether to participate.
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Lunge said she is currently exploring what kind of job suits her next but expects to land in either consulting or nonprofit work.
Her departure from the care board was timed to coincide with what is generally a slower pace of work for the regulatory body. But she acknowledged she is leaving with major questions still looming, including next steps for working with the federal insurance programs.
“Health care reform and health care is an area that has been a challenge my entire professional career,” she said. “There is always more to do.”
Read the story on VTDigger here: Robin Lunge, a Vermont health policy reform architect, to step down from Green Mountain Care Board .