Legislation to bring the state's hospitals under Vermont's Open Meeting Law faces an uphill battle at the Statehouse.

Two years ago, lawmakers endowed a five-person panel with the power to tell doctors how much they can charge patients for health care services. Now, some physicians with private practices say the rate-setting authority could put them out of business.

Doctor Elliott Fisher, the new director of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice talks with Vermont Edition about some of the inherent problems in how health care is delivered.

Vermont is poised to become the first state in the country to tell people without health insurance how much they can pay for coverage through the federal Affordable Care Act when it begins offering benefits next year.

On Wednesday, the woman who has led the Shumlin administration's health care overhaul for the past two years announced that she's leaving state government at a critical juncture for the effort.

A new survey by the state of Vermont finds the number of residents without health insurance has dropped by nearly a third in the past seven years, mainly due to growth in government programs.

The Green Mountain Care Board has established budget targets for Vermont's 14 hospitals that will add as much as $85 million to the $2.1 billion that is budgeted for the current fiscal year. The actual amount of new money will depend on a series of board decisions on individual hospital budgets before the new fiscal year begins on Oct. 1. The minimum new money would be $64 million.

The Green Mountain Care Board is moving steadily toward establishment of a modestly credible budget inflation limit for the Vermont's 14 hospitals for the coming fiscal year, a performance that would keep Gov. Peter Shumlin's health reform initiative on track. But some troubling portents have showed up in the process so far.

The Green Mountain Care Board has set forth a tentative target inflation rate of 4 percent for Vermont's 14 hospitals for the coming fiscal year, a target that would add about $85 million to the current statewide spending level of $2.136 billion. The final system increase will depend on the board's decisions on the individual hospitals' requests.

A popular health insurance plan offered by Chambers Of Commerce is coming to an end and many local chambers are concerned that without the plan they may lose members.

In his Budget speech last week, Governor Peter Shumlin said that Vermonters enrolled in Catamount Health Care won't face additional financial burdens when the state's new health care exchange goes into place next January.  But some health care advocates say the Governor is following through on only half of that pledge.

Lawmakers have gotten their first look at the computer software that will be used to implement Vermont's Health Care Exchange later this year.  Creators of the program are modeling it after popular travel websites.  

Officials from Burlington's Fletcher Allen Health Care, the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and other hospitals serving Vermont are joining to announce the creation of the nation's first statewide "accountable care organization."

You may think breastfeeding is automatic- not something mothers and babies have to learn how to do. In fact, a lot of new mothers struggle with breastfeeding.  The Affordable Care Act requires insurance companies to cover visits with lactation consultants.  We'll learn about what exactly lactation consultants do.

Gov. Peter Shumlin's administration is asking for a bit more time to report its ideas for paying for an ambitious overhaul of the state's health care system.

Double digit increases in health care costs are posing a significant budget challenge to many school boards across the state and local school officials are also feeling pressure from Governor Peter Shumlin.

The Green Mountain Care Board has capped overall hospital spending for next year at 3.75 percent. But the decision does allow for higher spending if the money is targeted at specific cost saving investments.

The Shumlin Administration has taken the first step to design the specific health care benefit packages that will be available in Vermont through the new marketplace exchange beginning in 2014.

The Shumlin administration says it's on track to put the state's health care exchange in place in October of 2013. The exchange, which is a key part of the federal Affordable Care Act, is where all individuals and small businesses will purchase their health insurance beginning in January of 2014.

Vermont Law School Professor Cheryl Hannah was among the many legal experts examining the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the central core of the federal Affordable Care Act.

Vermont's Congressional delegation is pleased and relieved that the Supreme Court upheld President Barack Obama's health care law, including the mandate that all Americans have health insurance or pay a fine.

Governor Peter Shumlin says the state will push ahead with an overhaul of its health care system, no matter what the U.S. Supreme Court does with the federal Affordable Care Act.

The future of health care in Vermont is going to be a key issue in the Treasurer's race this year.

Vermont is the only state to mandate participation in the proposed consumer marketplace Exchange program. This requirement is likely to emerge as a key issue in this year's race for governor.

The House has advanced a bill that requires health insurance companies to disclose the claims they've denied for coverage. If the bill passes, Vermont would become the sixth state to mandate that claims data be made public.