The Brattleboro Reformer reports that this month the Vermont Department of Health will starting its program of collecting and testing dead birds to track the spread of the West Nile Virus. According to state epidemiologist Patsy Tassler, "It is important to have current data [on the disease] in case there are reports of human cases." Indeed, the state wants to know if the risk to Vermonters might be increasing.

Last year, "370 birds were collected across the state, 55 were tested, and the three that tested positive were all found in Windham County." Tassler stressed that these results do not mean that Windham County is the only Vermont county with infected birds. "In past years West Nile has been found all over Vermont." Tassler concluded, "The 2007 data are probably more of an indication of how many birds were reported in the southeastern part of the state."

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Vermont Public Radio reports that pediatrician Dr. Wendy Davis has been named interim commissioner of the Vermont Department of Health. "Davis is director of the Health Department's maternal and child health division. She will replace acting commissioner Sharon Moffatt, a registered nurse, who recently resigned. Agency of Human Services Secretary Cynthia LaWare says Davis is committed to excellence in public health."

Vermont Public Radio reports that "fewer people than expected are enrolling in state-sponsored Catamount health plans." Indeed recently, the "Health Care Reform Commission looked at the difference between enrollment projections for the various Catamount health plans - and the actual number of people who signed up" and found that enrollment is about 40 percent below the estimates. Susan Besio, the Douglas Administration's point person on health care reform, said "she wasn't sure why people are choosing not to get coverage." Currently "about 60,000 people in Vermont lack health insurance," 25 percent of which are young people. 

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Vermont Public Radio reports that according to Jim Leddy, the president of AARP in Vermont and a former state senator, "A new survey indicates that the number of under-insured people in the state is growing at an alarming rate." The study surveyed 400 small businesses in Vermont and found that "40% of small businesses in the state don't offer their employees any health insurance coverage"; "roughly half of the businesses that do [offer health insurance] have switched to high deductible plans"; and "paying for health care insurance has become a major financial burden for many of these [small] companies." In response, Leddy hopes that his organization can "mobilize the state's small business community to convince lawmakers next winter to expand Catamount Health Care to allow these businesses to join the program."

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Vermont Public Radio reports that starting on July 1, 2008, the state cigarette tax will increase from $1.79 per pack [to] $1.99 per pack," making Vermont the 11th highest tobacco tax state in the nation. "Over the last two decades Vermont has steadily increased its cigarette tax. And in that time period the number of smokers has dropped from 25 to 18 percent of the population."

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