House Health Care Committee reviews H.35 to permanently unmerge Vermont individual and small-group insurance markets

Chair, House Health Care Committee opened the Jan. 24 meeting by saying, "it is my intention that we can vote on this today," while noting a short break may be needed until absent members return.

Jen Carvey, legislative counsel from the Office of Legislative Council, led a line-by-line walkthrough of H.35, saying, "This is an act relating to unmerging the individual and small group health insurance markets." Carvey described the bill as mostly cleanup of pre-2016 statutory language (when the small-employer cutpoint changed from 50 to 100 employees) and explained the bill’s operative provisions for separating the two markets permanently starting Jan. 1, 2026.

The bill would: 1) remove outdated pre‑2016 cross-references and update definitions used by the Vermont Health Benefit Exchange (Vermont Health Connect); 2) require carriers to guarantee acceptance separately for individuals and for small employers and their employees and dependents; and 3) require carriers to set premiums for the individual market separately…