By Guy Page
Gov. Phil Scott on May 15 signed into law a medical debt relief bill he warned lawmakers could increase medical debt in the long run.
S.27, titled medical debt relief and excluding medical debt from credit reports, allocates $1 million to the State Treasurer from the General Fund for contracting with a nonprofit entity to acquire and repay certain medical debts incurred by low-income Vermont residents.
The law, sponsored by Senate Health & Welfare Chair Sen. Ginny Lyons (D-Chittenden) and others, is intended to help both debt-ridden Vermonters and health care providers facing catastrophic failure due to budget shortfalls.
Scott’s ‘yes, but’ letter cites three concerns:
- Much of this debt has already been written off by healthcare providers as uncollectable and built into higher rates for ratepayers.
- “With a looming healthcare crisis and our growing crisis of affordability in Vermont, we should anticipate this debt financing program to grow [editor’s italics] which raises significant concerns about future appropriations and where the funding will come from.”
- “Now that we have created this million-dollar program, we may be disincentivizing repayment because of a misperception that “the State” will eventually pay for it.
Vetoes inmate support program bill funded elsewhere – Scott also delivered a ‘soft veto’ of a bill to provide support for incarcerated Vermonters. H.219, establishing the Department of Corrections’ Family Support Program, “violates the constitutionally mandated, separation of powers by attempting to obligate the Governor to include funding in the annual budget submission to the Legislature,” Scott wrote in a May 15 letter to legislators.
However, Scott noted program funding is included in the state budget bill approved by both House and Senate, “so it will move forward in FY26 as planned. I would also welcome the Legislature to send me the bill again with the change, if preferred, or address it next session.”
Scott also signed into law this week:
S.36, delivery and payment of certain services provided through the Agency of Human Services, services for persons who are incapacitated, and Human Services Board proceedings
- H.41, abuse of the dead body of a person
- S.50, increasing from 15 to 25 KW the size of solar net metering projects that qualify for expedited registration
- H.339, removing the repeal of 7 V.S.A. § 230. The repeal would have removed state regulations on off-site consumption of alcoholic beverages by July 1 of this year.
- H.364, approval of the annexation of town property at 124 First Street by the Village of Swanton, in connection with construction of new police station.
- H.98, confirmatory adoptions and standby guardianships
- S.56, creating an Office of New Americans