Advocacy

Attorney General T.J. Donovan announced that the Attorney General’s Office will host a public forum on the cost of health care in Vermont on July 11th in Burlington. The forum will provide information on how the cost of health care is determined in Vermont and the process for the public to give comments to the Green Mountain Care Board. The Attorney General will be joined at the forum by Judy Henkin, General Counsel of the Green Mountain Care Board, Mike Fisher, Vermont Legal Aid’s Chief Health Care Advocate, and Amy Cooper, Executive Director of Health First.

AARP Vermont held this live, interactive teletown hall call with guest speaker Congressman Peter Welch and hundreds of Vermonters on June 19. The topics of conversation were Medicare and the healthcare system in general. Congressman Welch explained why he voted no on the new proposed American Health Care Act bill. AARP strongly opposes the bill as well. Congressman Welch has a history of working against the rising costs of prescription drugs and spoke to this on the call. He explained how important he feels it is to work with those that disagree with him in order to accomplish what is best for the nation. The Congressman also shared his thoughts on the new Republican tax plans.

Vermont’s population is aging rapidly and cities and towns need to begin to make accommodations for a changing demographic across the state. That was one of the many issues addressed at the Smart Growth Summit held on June 16 at Champlain College and hosted by AARP Vermont and the Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC). About 160 local officials, planners, policy makers, developers, advocates, and business people from across Vermont came together to share their insights and learn more during a dynamic and interactive summit aimed at addressing a host of community development challenges and opportunities.

GOVERNOR’S AWARD FOR BUSINESS

From Vermont Business Magazine - 5/19/17:

AARP Vermont and the Newport Community Renaissance Corp. (NCRC) are now accepting applications for the 2017 Community Action Sponsorship Program -- as an effort to provide modest grants and technical support to community groups or individuals. The initiative is part of AARP’s work to enhance the Age Friendliness of Newport by preparing the community for the rapidly aging demographic shift -- particularly in the areas of housing, mobility and community engagement.

If you were to ask a typical Vermonter how to fix health care in America, you can be sure [he/she] would not suggest that Washington allow insurance companies to price people out of affordable coverage.

In a statement today, AARP Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond announced AARP’s opposition to the House plan that would make changes to our current health care system, such as shortening the life of Medicare, hiking costs for those who can least afford higher insurance premiums, risking seniors’ ability to live independently, and giving tax breaks to big drug companies and health insurance companies:

This has been a busy week for President Donald Trump. He’s been signing executive orders, holding high-level meetings — and tweeting up a storm. All of this makes it clear that our 45 th president is eager to deliver quickly on the promises he made during his campaign.

With the 2017 legislative session under way, AARP Vermont and the Office of State Treasurer are encouraging legislators to establish a state-managed retirement plan for about 104,000 workers whose employers do not offer such a plan.