When Vermont’s new health insurance exchange goes live Tuesday morning, its chief opponents plan to flood the state with automated phone calls criticizing it.

Darcie Johnston, the founder of Vermonters for Health Care Freedom, says her organization plans to robo-call 30,000 households with a message warning Vermonters that, thanks to Gov. Peter Shumlin, they “could be left uninsured in just three months.”

“Why?” the message continues. “Gov. Shumlin got the legislature to require that individuals and small employers must buy health insurance only through an online exchange called Vermont Health Connect — and the exchange may not be ready in time.”

The message, which Johnston says will cost $800 to deploy, provides recipients the option to “press 1 now” to be connected with the governor — or at least the poor, beleaguered staffers answering his phones on the fifth floor of the Pavilion State Office Building. A separate message, which will be left on the voicemail systems of those who don’t pick up, will helpfully provide the gov’s number. 

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Paul Heintz was part of the Seven Days news team from 2012 to 2020. He served as political editor and wrote the "Fair Game" political column before becoming a staff writer.

3 replies on “Health Reform Opponents to Robo-Call 30,000 Vermonters Tuesday”

  1. I tried looking at the Vermont exchange site. MAN! My jaw dropped when I
    saw how insanely expensive this crap is! (Unless you are subsidized by
    the state / taxpayers) The insurance companies must be drooling. What an
    expensive waste forced upon us. It’s shameful

  2. Obamacare will destroy the Middle Class. Elitist Obama and his Progressive left own the POOR… They’re working to CONTROL the Middle Class with Common Core, Cap & Trade and Obamacare! Cloward & PIvan has been the objective all along of King Obama and elitist left…

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