Senate committee reviews bill giving Green Mountain Care Board authority to adjust hospital rates, appoint observer

The Senate Health & Welfare Committee reviewed H.482 on proposed authority for the Green Mountain Care Board to reduce or reallocate commercial reimbursement rates paid to Vermont hospitals to remediate an acute threat to a domestic health insurer’s solvency and to appoint an independent hospital observer.

The bill draft shown by Jen Carvey of the Office of Legislative Council would let the board order reductions in hospital reimbursement rates if, after consulting the Commissioner of Financial Regulation, the board determines a domestic insurer faces an immediate solvency threat tied to risk‑based capital triggers. The draft retains a statutory floor: any reduction could not push a hospital or hospital network’s projected days cash on hand below 125 days and uses a 135‑day cash threshold in criteria that identify hospitals or networks the board may target.

Committee members discussed several safeguards in the draft. Carvey highlighted draft language that would require the board, “in determining whether and to what extent to reduce a hospital’s reimbursement rates pursuant to this section, [to] consider the competing financial obligations…