Vermont Health System Reform

Vermont’s Health Care Reform Commission selected Professor William Hsiao and his team to design three health system reform options and analyze their impact on health care in the state. The project was enabled by Act 128, passed by the Vermont legislature in June 2010 and allowed to become law by governor Douglas without a signature. The study provides Vermont leaders with clear policy options for creating a comprehensive health system that achieves universal, affordable insurance for its residents. Professor Hsiao served as a principal investigator for the project and has assembled a multidisciplinary team of experts and analysts to carry out the complex analyses required by the project. The team included MIT professor Jonathan Gruber, a leading expert in public policy whose microsimulation model was used by the Obama administration to analyze health policy proposals, and Steven Kappel, founder of Policy Integrity, LLC and an expert in Vermont policy and data resources with decades of experience in fiscal analysis for the state.

Project Updates

The research team has submitted the final report. For more articles published in peer-reviewed journals, please visit our Publications page.

On August 5, 2010, Professor Hsiao delivered a public presentation to the Vermont Health Care Reform Commission outlining the team’s strategic approach and priorities. Click here to download the PowerPoint presentation.

Press Coverage

The Vermont media website VTdigger.com covered Professor Hsiao’s January 19, 2011 presentationOpens in a new window to the Vermont State Legislature, highlighting the report’s main findings.

The Vermont newspaper Times Argus covered Professor Hsiao’s August 5, 2010 presentation.

The grassroots organization Vermont for Single Payer also highlighted Professor Hsiao’s “impressive performance.”

Times Argus featured the Vermont’s Health Care Commission’s decision to appoint Professor Hsiao’s team to conduct the health system design study.

The Green Mountain Daily covered Professor Hsiao’s March 18, 2010 testimony to the Vermont legislature.