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Committee agrees to advance H.80 to clarify Health Care Advocate access to confidential materials
Summary
The committee agreed to work on H.80, a housekeeping bill for the Office of the Health Care Advocate that updates statutory language to reflect current practice, clarifies the office’s independence and its ability to access confidential hospital and insurer materials, and addresses friction around insurance rate‑review prehearing questions.
Legislative committee members said they will work this week on H.80, a housekeeping bill for the Office of the Health Care Advocate that staff say mostly aligns the statute with the office’s current practices and clarifies its independence.
The bill “seeks to comply with what our actual practice is,” Mike Fisher, identified in the discussion as the Health Care Advocate, told the committee. Fisher said the measure updates language — including replacing the term “consumer” with “Vermonter” — and resolves technical inconsistencies so the office’s mandate clearly covers a broader set of advocacy actions.
The measure also aims to clarify the office’s access to confidential materials used in hospital budgets, CON (certificate of need) proceedings and insurance rate review. Fisher described past friction with the Green Mountain Care Board about obtaining confidential documents and said the office has established practices to submit redacted comments but wants clearer statutory authority to review materials without third‑party gatekeeping.
Fisher said the bill addresses a related concern in insurance rate review where the office’s prehearing questions have, on occasion, been edited or denied by the board. “When you’re developing a case, the purpose of prehearing questions is to go down the rabbit holes to see whether there’s something there,” he said. “You want a public advocate at the table? You gotta let us — you can’t tie an armband on your back.”
Committee members asked for clarifications and signaled support for moving the bill forward during the limited time before crossover. Several members noted H.80 carries no new appropriations.
The committee did not take a formal vote in the meeting; members directed staff and counsel to draft or refine language and to continue work on the bill in follow‑up sessions.
Looking ahead, members said they will prioritize H.80 alongside other health bills the committee identified as top items for the remaining days before crossover.
