Medicaid is the biggest budget challenge faced by the state of Vermont. By far. Understanding the fiscal, not to mention health care policy, challenges faced by our state requires an understanding of Medicaid. Medicaid is a publicly-funded health insurance program for low-income Americans, lower income children and pregnant women, and blind or disabled citizens. Medicaid is not Medicare. While both programs were created in the 1960s under the Johnson administration, Medic

The 2016 legislature has been in session for six weeks, and it is high time to resume the Jim & Tim report. This piece on the Governor’s Budget is somewhat detailed, but that’s unavoidable. We enjoy communicating with you, so here goes. In early January, Governor Shumlin presented his FY 2017 budget. If passed as presented, total appropriations would be nearly $7.6 billion. Of that, $3.734 billion would come through the General, Transportation and Education Funds, and approxi