Department of Vermont Health Access urges committee to make small-group/individual market split permanent

Representatives of the Department of Vermont Health Access told the House Healthcare Committee at a committee meeting that H.35 would codify Vermont’s current separation of the individual and small-group insurance markets and that keeping the markets unmerged would protect small employers from potential premium increases if enhanced federal subsidies expire.

Alex McCracken, director of communications and legislative affairs for the Department of Vermont Health Access, said the individual market covers about 34,000 covered lives, roughly 30,000 of whom enroll through the Vermont Health Connect exchange, while the small-group market covers about 36,000 lives. “The individual market is about 34,000 covered lives. 30,000 of those are through the exchange, the Vermont Health Connect marketplace,” McCracken said.

The department recommended making permanent the 2022 separation of the markets — enacted in statute…