VT H0580

All public employees eligible for health benefits through employment—including current and retired State, school, and municipal employees, plus University of Vermont and Vermont State Colleges employees—would become eligible for coverage through a unified public employees' health plan

An independent Commission on Public Employee Health Benefits would be established to design the health benefit plan and determine premium cost-sharing percentages between public employers and participating employees

Health care would be removed from matters subject to collective bargaining between public employers and public employees

School employee insurance costs would shift out of the Education Fund, and other public employee insurance costs would move out of individual agency budgets into a consolidated public employees' health plan budget line item

The Governor's proposed budget must include separate line items for public employee health benefits and Medicaid in the same or adjacent sections, along with appropriations for VPharm, Medicare Savings Programs, Dr. Dynasaur, and related programs to enable unified viewing of State health care costs

The Green Mountain Care Board and Agency of Human Services must provide annual budget presentations with information on health insurance costs, expenditures per covered life, cost trends over time, and breakdown of costs borne by State, federal government, and Vermont households