“I thoroughly believe that the state is going to be able to do a much better job of administering a program like this than the federal government,” Sen. John Tippets, R-Montpelier, told the Senate in his closing debate on SB 1042, the state insurance exchange bill. It’s been six hours since this debate began this morning. He stressed that participation in the exchange would be voluntary; no one would be required to participate. He also noted that requirements for contraceptive coverage would be the same under a state or federally run exchange.

"The facts are that the federal law says that we will have an exchange of some type," Tippets told the Senate. "I think most of us have come to that realization." He said, "I believe to ignore the ... laws of this nation would be to start down the road to anarchy."