VT Digger Commentaries Archives - Page 2 of 2

Originally published on Vermont Digger in August 2015

Education spending generally receives the lion’s share of attention when it comes to the expenditure of local tax dollars. The obvious reason is that education spending has a far greater impact on property taxes. But, when it comes to the future of Vermont town government, it’s the cost of non-school line items that will drive the shape of local government in the years to come.

New England’s form of town government, and Vermont’s particular brand of it, will face challenges that very few in Montpelier and beyond are thinking about at this moment. Yet now is the time to think about them though the actions necessary to address the challenges are far from clear.

The crux of the challenges facing local town governments is this – the demand for greater accountability will naturally increase as town governments spend more on essential town functions and services (we see a similar situation with education spending, but because of the unique importance of education, it feels like a totally different conversation). Continue reading “Municipal Budgets will Drive the Future of Town Government”

Originally published on Vermont Digger in March 2015

Gov. Shumlin has proposed a .7 percent payroll tax, the main purpose of which is to address the so-called Medicaid cost-shift. The bulk of the new revenue would be used to draw down federal matching funds thus allowing Vermont to more closely align Medicaid reimbursement rates with those of Medicare (Medicaid currently reimburses at around 60 percent while Medicare’s reimbursement rate is closer to 80 percent). Gov. Shumlin has committed that this way of addressing the cost-shift will result in a 5 percent reduction of private insurance premiums (though the Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB) is not making the same promise).

Leaving aside the important yet unanswered questions about whether the cost-shift actually exists, and if it does, the degree to which it occurs, there is ample skepticism in the General Assembly about whether the payroll tax is a good idea. While still on the table, the payroll tax may not make it to the governor’s desk this year, or ever. Consequently, the Legislature should consider alternative ideas that would reduce the impact of the cost-shift. The clearest and most plausible idea is to increase health care price transparency. Continue reading “The Importance of Health Care Price Transparency”