Fiscal office and advocates warn S.126 could require millions more to implement; committee urged to seek AHS clarity

Lowell Meinwald, of the Joint Fiscal Office, told the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare that fiscal notes tied to S.126 show differing cost estimates depending on which version of the bill is used and that the Senate health committee’s version originally included appropriations later removed and routed to the budget process.

The fiscal office’s breakdown attributes new staffing and contract needs across the Agency of Human Services and the Green Mountain Care Board. "Their ask was 1,500,000.0 general fund, 250,000 for HIT for a total of about 1,800,000.0," Meinwald said, summarizing AHS figures the office received when the bill was before the Senate committee. Meinwald added that AHS later told JFO the actual need to implement the bill could be higher but that AHS had not supplied revised numbers.

Mike Fisher, healthcare advocate, warned lawmakers of broader fiscal risk. "I feel like I am speeding towards a cliff," Fisher said, arguing the state is facing a near-term financing crisis in hospital and health-care spending. Fisher and other witnesses urged clearer, faster action on pricing and budget tools to avoid insolvency in the system.

Sam Putsch, a health care advocate who has followed hospital budget…