PUTNEY — When a state such as Texas rejects $10 million in federal aid intended to help its uninsured residents purchase health care under the Affordable Care Act, that's good news for the likes of Vermont, which needs - and will use - the money.
That's according to State Rep. Mike Mrowicki, D-Putney, visiting the Selectboard Sept. 25 to apprise officials of a range of developments in Montpelier affecting residents here in his home town.
Of the Vermont Health Connect exchange, which launched Oct. 1 to help Vermonters buy insurance on the open market, Mrowicki said he was looking forward to it. He also said he has heard concerns from many constituents, especially elders who want to know what health care reform means for their Medicare benefits.
“We want to reassure people: if you're on Medicare, nothing changes for you. What's going to change is for people who don't have insurance now, whether working for themselves or for small businesses, they'll be able to get their insurance through the health exchange, which is healthconnect.vermont.gov,” he said.
Wearing a pale Red Sox Nation T-shirt and sitting alone in the public gallery before Selectmen and the lens of the BCTV camera, Mrowicki spoke on health care reform, his work in the Statehouse on the Human Services Committee, gains on affordable housing in Putney, challenges in transportation, education, and the pending Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant closure.
“I'm here to tell you what we're doing in Montpelier to keep Putney as a great place to live, which is why I continue to want to do the work,” he said.
'Vermont leading on health care'
Mrowicki said that when people visit Vermont Health Connect and look at premium costs, they shouldn't stop there, but rather take advantage of a calculator on the site that helps residents determine eligibility for premium subsidies.
“I think a lot of people are going to find out they're going to get a lot of help on their premiums through the federal subsidies,” he said.
Beginning this month, small businesses with 50 or fewer employees will be able to use Vermont Health Connect to find coverage for their employees. In 2016, small businesses with 100 or fewer employees will be able to offer coverage for their employees through Vermont Health Connect.
Starting Jan. 1, 2014, federal law requires all Americans to have health insurance. Many people will be eligible for public programs or financial assistance to help pay for their care.
“[Vermont is] leading the way in some ways. We have a system right now that's unsustainable; we have to do something, and here we are,” Mrowicki said.
Closing the gap in human services
Mrowicki, who sits on the 11-member House Committee on Human Services, which is concerned with child care, the disabled, elder care, and mental health, among other issues, noted that the economy, though improving, is still “painfully slow” in recovery.
“We're in a lot better shape than many other states. ... I think sometimes it's hard for people to understand that while we're recovering, where we have recovered to is that last year our state revenues got back to where they were in 2008,” he said.
Bridging the gap from 2008-type revenue to 2013 or 2014 requests for needs is the slow part of the recovery, he added.
Overall, he said, things look good. “But we're not awash in money; we're a small state, not a wealthy state.”
'Gas tax will solve problems'
And because Vermont is a small state, and revenue from gasoline sales was down over less travel and greater fuel efficiency, Mrowicki says he supported Gov. Peter Shumlin had in pressing for a hike in the gasoline tax, which is expected to bring in $25 million a year.
“We continue to draw down federal money. We didn't want to leave that money on the table. So that's why we raised the gas tax. We were stuck between a rock and a hard place, and had to bite the bullet and raise those taxes,” Mrowicki said.
“We have a leaky bucket in the transportation fund,” Shumlin said in wire service reports. “If we don't repair it, we're not going to be able to make the progress on roads and bridges that are crumbling before our eyes. Bipartisan consensus, the right choice to make, even though we all hate it.”
Assessing funding, pressure on local schools
Mrowicki also said he was hopeful over Shumlin's choice of Vermont and New Hampshire educator Rebecca Holcombe to head up the Agency of Education, starting in January.
Although he could not recall her name, he characterized Holcombe's appointment as part of a changing landscape in education. “It'll be interesting to see where we go right now.”
The bulk of Mrowicki's remarks on education acknowledged pressure on local schools. He said he had just spoken with Dummerston's school board and would presently address Putney's.
He also acknowledged that, “for the most part, schools have kept their funding requests at a minimum, and yet the reality is we have to raise the statewide property tax more than we've ever had before.”
He said the tax increase “is a good investment we make in our children, and the best investments we make are in our children, so I think it's money well spent; and I think here in Putney, Dummerston, and Westminster, we get real good value from what's happening in our schools.”
The problem is that our school populations continue to decline just as costs are going up, he said. “That's a ratio people find hard to get, that there's not an economy of scale that we're going to find.”
Of talk surrounding school consolidation, he said he hadn't seen any research “really proving it enhances the education kids get, or that it saves communities money.”
“There may be some [savings] in terms of buying that schools can do and get together on, but I don't think consolidation has a place right here. While people might talk about it, I don't think there's a lot of support for consolidation in the Legislature.”