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Gov. Phil Scott speaks during a press conference at the Statehouse in Montpelier in April 2025. File photo by Glenn Russell\/VTDigger<\/p>\nGov. Phil Scott speaks during a press conference at the Statehouse in Montpelier in April 2025. File photo by Glenn Russell\/VTDigger<\/p>\n
Gov. Phil Scott issued an executive order<\/a> Wednesday that included a number of measures to decrease health insurance regulations in an effort to lower costs, including implementing age-based insurance premiums.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNone of these ideas are radical,\u201d Scott said in a Wednesday press conference. \u201cIn fact, they\u2019re very mainstream, and we know they work, because we\u2019ve seen how these practical reforms have helped other states expand affordable choices, strengthen their insurance markets and reduce costs.\u201d<\/p>\n The order follows Scott\u2019s veto of S.190<\/a>, the Legislature\u2019s most robust attempt to rein in healthcare costs this year. In vetoing it, Scott cited the need to<\/a> \u201cfocus on system-wide savings for all,\u201d rather than directing savings to specific, vulnerable groups of people buying insurance.<\/p>\n The Wednesday order pulls from a series of ideas Scott and his administration put forward in January. The package largely looks for ways to achieve savings for small businesses and young people buying insurance.\u00a0<\/p>\n Chief among the governor\u2019s changes is a provision that would allow Vermont insurers to price premiums partially based on age.\u00a0<\/p>\n Vermont has been one of only two states in the country that does not allow this kind of age rating, a move that aimed to equalize premiums across age groups \u2014 though older people generally cost an insurer a bit more, while younger people are generally less expensive. Some see that approach as pricing out young people, who might forgo health insurance altogether if it\u2019s too pricey.<\/p>\n Kaj Samsom, the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation, which oversees insurance in the state, described the basic philosophy Wednesday: \u201cAge rating recognizes that as we get older, you use more healthcare,\u201d he said at the press conference.\u00a0<\/p>\n The order also tasks DFR with developing a plan to allow insurers to adjust rates based on a person\u2019s tobacco use.\u00a0<\/p>\n Samsom, as commissioner, can give commercial insurers the ability to increase or decrease rates by as much as 20% compared to what the age-neutral rate would be. The change would only impact people buying commercial insurance, not those on Medicare or Medicaid.<\/p>\n