Last week, Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas signed into law a healthcare reform initiative that is expected to insure 25,000 residents through state-subsidized insurance offered by private insurance companies. The second state to pass such legislation (Massachusetts passed a similar bill in April), Vermont has a goal of providing near-universal health insurance to its residents by 2010. Currently, approximately 10% of the 620,000 Vermonters are uninsured. Under the new Catamount Health program, low-income earners will pay premiums on a sliding scale beginning in October 2007. Some of the funding for the low-cost insurance will come from an assessment on employers who do not offer their employees insurance, and from a higher excise tax on cigarettes, reports Reuters.
