Vermonters for Health Care Freedom has released documents indicating that the administration of Gov. Peter Shumlin (D), pictured, completed a substantial amount of work on the analysis of the Green Mountain Care taxing plan before directing consultants to stop work in late November. File photo
Montpelier — Vermonters for Health Care Freedom has released documents indicating that the Shumlin administration completed a substantial amount of work on the analysis of the Green Mountain Care taxing plan before directing consultants to stop work in late November.
Administration officials also approved modeling of a combined employer payroll tax and individual income tax to raise the $1.6 billion needed to fund the program.
For mer Rutland mayor, now VHCF Executive Director Jeff Wennberg joined House Minority Leader Don Turner and Senate Minority Leader Joe Benning in a State House press conference last week to announce what was learned from reviewing over 1,600 pages of documents released through an access to public documents request filed by VHCF late last month.
Rep. Turner, Sen. Benning and other legislators had sought the release of the missing financing plan by direct appeal to Secretary of Administration Jeb Spaulding, but Spaulding rejected the request, stating that the legislature no longer required the information this year.
Wennberg said a review of correspondence between Vermont officials and University of Massachusetts Medical School consultants hired to produce the report prove that the administration is hiding information from the public. “The consultants billed and were paid nearly $40,000 for work on the taxing plan – work that never appeared in the final report.
As late as Nov. 16, the consultants were still analyzing taxing systems to support single payer. But by Nov. 26, someone in the administration told them to stop work on that part of the report,” Wennberg said, pointing to meeting agenda as proof.
“Most interesting is the summary of a meeting held on Oct. 11, in which high ranking administration officials directed the consultants to analyze a combined employer payroll tax and individual income tax as the way to finance single payer.”
Wennberg said the documents did not include any of the consultant’s work products, and that new document requests were being made for that purpose.
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