BARRE, VT (Aug. 7, 2025) – Ahead of the Green Mountain Care Board’s decisions on premium increases in the individual and small group health insurance markets for 2026, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) in Vermont is outlining steps that state policymakers can take to expand and improve health coverage options for small business owners and employees.

“For nearly forty years, the cost of health insurance has been the number one small business problem in NFIB’s surveys,” said NFIB Vermont State Director John Reynolds. “Health coverage is a critical benefit for recruiting and retaining employees, and Vermont small businesses are falling further behind through no fault of their own. Policymakers in Montpelier must do more to expand health insurance options and opportunities on Main Street.”

In a new three-part series, NFIB Vermont examines the state’s health insurance affordability problem from a small business perspective and offers three policy solutions to improve coverage options for small business owners and employees.

Part I: Why Are Health Insurance Prices Going Up Again?

Part II: One No-Cost Way to Improve Small Business Coverage Options

Part III: Proven Strategies to Lower Premiums and Improve Options

NFIB Vermont’s policy recommendations include:

– reducing unnecessary barriers to self-insurance for small employers

– exploring a federal-state reinsurance partnership to reduce premiums

– supporting small businesses with ICHRA tax credits.

“Vermont lawmakers took some important steps this year to rein in the cost of health care,” added Reynolds. “The new limits preventing hospitals from price gouging commercial insurance on drug prices is already paying dividends in the form of lower future premium increases. But it’s clear more work is needed to increase the number of commercial insurance payers in the state, and that’s what our policy recommendations aim to do.”

In June, Vermont legislators passed a law capping the markup that hospitals can charge commercial payers for clinician-administered drugs at 120% of the average sales price. This change contributed to a decrease in requested individual and small group market premium increases for 2026. The state’s largest insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont, has since reduced its premium increase requests to 15.4% in the individual market and 7.4% in the small group market.

Earlier this year, NFIB released a new paper, “Addressing the Health Insurance Affordability Crisis for Small Businesses,” that outlines challenges facing and proposes solutions to help small employers.

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For over 80 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven. Since our founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses, and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.