Covering the uninsured
Vermont launches new health care option

Katie Colleran | staff editor

In an effort to decrease the number of Vermonters without health care, the state has launched a new insurance option.

Catamount Health, which became available on Oct. 1, will go into effect Dec. 1 and provides an affordable choice for the 65,000 Vermonters who currently have no insurance.

With Catamount Health, Vermonters will find medicine more affordable. Alex McIntire, photo illustration

Making health a priority

When the state legislature was looking for a way to improve Vermont’s insurance plans, it noticed the uninsured falling into two groups - the young who felt they were invincible and older people who had trouble affording insurance, says Kevin Veller, director of health care reform outreach and enrollment for Vermont.

According to Veller, Catamount Health was developed to give those groups, and everyone in-between, accessible insurance.

“The perks of health care in general are huge, preventative care, accident coverage,” she says. “But, you cannot find a more comprehensive program than Catamount Health. For the price you pay, it has more stuff in it than anything else.”

The Web site for Catamount Health offers all the details of the plan, from what it covers, including doctor visits and chronic disease care, to how much it costs, monthly premiums of $60-$393. There is also premium assistance available to buy into an employer's insurance. A person can just go online and apply, Veller says.

“We do not have a single pricing for a single person,” she says. “It’s based on income. You can be a millionaire and still get the Catamount plan.”

Millionaires aside, when developing Catamount Health, the state had specific goals in mind. Currently 90 percent of Vermonters have health insurance and the state wants 96 percent to have it by 2010, Veller says.

When trying to forecast the number of people who might enroll in this program and the success it would have, the state spent a huge amount of time looking over data and developing strategies, Veller says.

“We know that the trend is more and more people are becoming uninsured because rates become unsustainable,” she says.

So far, about 1,000 people have enrolled in the new program and the hope is that many more will, Veller says.

“When people are uninsured it's bad for them, it's bad for the public, it's bad for the economy,” she says. “The fact that we [the state] are trying to find a mechanism to help people get insured, it’s a win, win, win.”

Backing Catamount

Vermonter Peter Sterling has already enrolled in the Catamount program.

“I was previously on COBRA [Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act], but it was unaffordable,” he says. “I enrolled my whole family in Catamount. It is much better than anything on the private market.”

Having care he can afford is extremely important to Sterling, since his wife is due to have a baby in December, he says.

“With Catamount, all doctors visits are covered, all hospital visits,” Sterling says.

Though Sterling is satisfied with his new insurance, there are certain components of it that he would change, he says.

“First, the application process can be super confusing,” Sterling says. “In the kind of public work I do, I have seen a great variance of literacy. It’s hard for some people to read forms, but they can’t get insurance if they can’t fill out the forms.”

Sterling is the executive director of a nonprofit organization working to correct some of the problems with Catamount Health. The Vermont Campaign for Health Insurance Education Fund works toward providing accessible health care for all Vermonters, Sterling says. Right now, aspects of Catamount Health, such as the forms, prevent that.

“Catamount Health has a one year period regulating that anyone with private insurance has to be uninsured for one year before being eligible for Catamount,” he says. “If you get divorced or lose your job, you are eligible, but if you quit your job, you have to wait.”

The waiting period is necessary because the state did not want people rushing off private insurance to enroll in Catamount Health. However, the wait prevents the health insurance from being available to all Vermonters. The nonprofit Sterling heads is looking to get that stipulation removed, he says.

Affordability in action

 The Community Health Center of Burlington is one of the area clinics preparing to accept Catamount Health, says Alison Calderara, the center's director of community relations and development.

“We have a sliding scale to determine how much a low-income or uninsured person is charged,” she says. “This insurance will go to help the people who are not eligible for our sliding scale.”

The Community Health Center of Burlington is prepared to accept Catamount Health. Alex McIntire, photo

Calderara says she feels strongly that this new insurance option will help decrease the number of uninsured in Vermont.

“Vermont is very forward thinking in its approach,” she says. “They have been very proactive in getting the word out about it.”

Looking at the insurance from a college student’s perspective, Calderara sees it being a benefit to them as well as the uninsured, she says.

“Catamount will help people who are graduating and may get a
job that doesn’t offer insurance,” Calderara says.

The effort to reach out to all residents of the state is currently looking successful, but more time may be needed to gauge Catamount Health’s full impact, Sterling says.

“Catamount Health is a start for doing what we need to do to alleviate the problem that is facing everyone without insurance,” he says. “But, we still need to make sure everyone in Vermont has health insurance.”