Knock, knock: Catamount Health reps hitting streets

MONTPELIER, Vt. --If someone knocks on your door this summer and wants to talk about health insurance coverage, you may want to listen.

The state of Vermont will launch its new Catamount Health plan Oct. 1, hoping to reach nearly half of the estimated 61,000 Vermonters lacking health insurance.

Catamount is promising comprehensive health coverage, with very low out-of-pocket copays and other expenses. Full price will be about $360 to $370 per month, with people whose incomes qualify getting discounted premiums.

A host of groups -- including the state, Vermont Public Interest Research Group and the Bi-State Primary Care Association -- will be involved in an effort to train outreach workers encouraging enrollment in Catamount and the state's other public health programs, which are Medicaid and the Vermont Health Access Plan.

The marketing drive will not be devoted just to Catamount, but is designed to make Vermonters aware of whichever program would best serve them.

"The message is Vermonters need health insurance, and we've got something for you," said Susan Besio, the state's director of health care reform implementation.

The state will spend about $4.1 million promoting its public health insurance programs, including about $1.5 million for marketing, advertising, opinion research, Web site design and similar activities, she said Tuesday.

An additional $2.6 million will go toward revising the state's computer and communications systems to make them more interactive, Besio added. "Eventually our goal is to be able to have people do online enrollment and eligibility determination," she said. "It's a huge endeavor."

Among the private-sector groups involved in the effort is the Vermont Campaign for Health Care Security Education Fund. Its director, Peter Sterling, announced at Tuesday's news conference that it had received a $100,000 grant from the Public Welfare Foundation to help fund the team of outreach workers.

At the same time, VPIRG said part of a $50,000 grant it had received from the Nathan Cummings Foundation also would go toward the effort.

Clancy DeSmet, 32, of Montpelier, who has a law degree and a master's degree in environmental law but is unemployed and uninsured, is looking forward to being able to enroll in Catamount Health.

DeSmet said he is afraid to go skiing for fear of what it would cost him "if I blew out my knee." He said his parents bought him vision and dental checkups for Christmas.