Ways and Means: Legislation, STAT!

Health care expenses were not the main focus of the legislative session. Lawmakers say that may have helped them address the problem.

by Hannah Bassett September 3, 2025

While the Statehouse buzzed in late spring with debate over how to govern and pay for Vermont’s schools, members of the House and Senate health committees pulled together novel reforms that are among the most consequential of the year.

The legislation, conceived and passed in the final weeks of the session with little fanfare, capped the prices hospitals can charge for outpatient prescription drugs. The new law has already been credited with slashing some proposed health insurance rate increases by more than half. Additional savings are anticipated in coming years under a separate late-session bill that will empower the Green Mountain Care Board to limit what hospitals can charge for care by tying prices to Medicare reimbursement rates.

For years, Vermont has tried to rein in soaring health costs with little effect. But this legislative session, in the shadow of the all-consuming education debate, lawmakers pushed through a measure that delivered results almost immediately. The success, legislators say, was possible in part because their policy making was not in the spotlight.

That provided an opportunity for lawmakers with expertise to take control of the issue, said Rep. Alyssa Black (D-Essex), chair of the House Health Care Committee. Black has served on the committee since she was elected to the legislature in 2021; this is her first year as chair.

“I sort of feel grateful in the end,” Black said, “because I think we got an enormous amount of work done because it wasn’t the priority.”

The bills have gained attention, however, in the months since they became law.

The new cap on hospital outpatient prescription drug prices has already bent the cost curve more than previous policies, according to Sen. Ginny Lyons (D-Chittenden-Southeast), who has served in the legislature for 25 years and has chaired the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare since 2019.

“I worked on this for many years, but having this one change have such an effect is outstanding,” Lyons said.

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Despite opposition from health care providers, the committee backed the new language 11-0 in a straw poll after little more than a week of debate. Members knew that their decision could irk powerful interest groups looking to maintain the status quo.

“I was scared doing that, and I know other members on my committee were,” Black said. “In the end, frankly, I know we did the right thing.”

Mike Del Trecco, president and chief executive officer of the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, said the association expressed concern about this aspect of the bill and had hospital representatives reach out to share impacts and offer alternatives.

Defying the health care industry was a bold break from tradition, according to Chris Pearson, a former Chittenden County legislator and current board member of Vermont Healthcare 911, a bipartisan coalition established in January 2025 to advocate for lower health care costs. 

“I am hard-pressed to think of a time when the legislature thought of a health care reform proposal, heard that the hospitals opposed it across the board, by the way, and then went ahead and passed it anyway,” Pearson said.

Scott signed the bill into law less than two weeks after the House Health Care Committee voted in favor of the cap. The new limits on drug prices are already being credited for helping to drive down insurance premiums for Blue Cross Blue Shield Vermont and MVP Health Care, the two insurers that sell plans on the state marketplace. 

Full story – https://www.sevendaysvt.com/news/waysandmeans/legislation-stat/