A new survey by AARP Vermont shows that roughly 40 percent of Vermont's small businesses don't offer private health insurance to their employees because it's too expensive. Now the group is pushing to expand one of the state's health care programs, Catamount Health, to cover small businesses. Bob Kinzel talks with AARP Vermont director Jim Leddy, and with Jeane Keller, a health care consultant who says the move would compromise the financial stability of the Catamount program. (Listen)

Also, our series of interviews about what Vermonters are doing to reduce their environmental impact continues with a look at the political scene. VPR's John Dillon joins Bob to analyze the top environmental issues in this year's gubernatorial race, and where the candidates stand on the issues.(Listen)

Listener comments:

Laura from Burke:

My husband has Medicare coverage, and we both have additional health insurance. Nearly every simple visit to a doctor results in a moountain of paperwork -- insurance billings and co-billings -- which is often incorrect. My time and the time of insurance company and doctors' office personnel to correct the bills is an astounding waste of resources. If we had national health care system that eliminated the billing, we could move a huge resource to providing care rather than doing paperwork.

Fred from Windsor:

My feelings are that hospitals should be administering hospital costs. They are forced to handle the paper work anyhow so why are we, through higher premiums, paying insurance companies to administer the costs too? We should be the first in the United States to push real health reform by removing the middle man, insurance companies, and letting the Hospitals administer the costs of health. How much would that save? How much would that drop the cost of healthcare?