By: Dr. Deb Richter
Vermont’s Banking Insurance Securities Health Care Administration (BISHCA) is finally looking into the $7 million golden parachute retirement package awarded to the retiring Vermont CEO of Blue Cross (Take It Back). Insurance companies are a big part of our current health care industry but it is questionable if their role benefits us. What would really benefit us is $7 million. Here are some ways it could improve health care in Vermont.
- A study by UVM’s* Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) has determined that Vermont needs 54 more primary care physicians to meet its current shortage. $7 million could fund 47 primary care physicians for one year. Each physician serves roughly 1200 patients amounting to a potential of 56,000 more Vermonters getting primary care. This would put quite a dent into the primary care shortage (Times Argus).
- $7 million could fund more than 300 home health aides for one year. These are the health care workers that allow seniors to stay in their homes when they are unable to care for themselves.
- The Times Argus reports that “Medicaid will under-fund the actual cost of providing care for nursing home patients in Vermont by nearly $12 million.” $7 million could cover more than half of the projected Medicaid shortage this year.
- Like many states Vermont has a shortage of dentists. $7 million could fund 42 dentists for one year.
Many of you will know of health care programs that would benefit from $7 million. So post your ideas. Then imagine if we had a single-payer health care system what we could do with upwards of $500 million it would save from unnecessary administrative costs.
Since many (perhaps most) doctors graduate with mountains of debt which pressures them to find ways to bill their way out, why not use $7 million to reverse the problem? This money could go to supporting doctors in training who pledge to serve Vermont communities for an agreed period of time after graduation. We would have a corps of new doctors in our state who are debt-free (or nearly so) who could concentrate all of their attention on patients rather than debt collectors. While this amount of money will not be sufficient to complete the job, we could use it as a down-payment and seek other aide from the federal government. I think the result would be a healthier Vermont and a less stressed cohort of doctors.
Maybe something could be worked out to reduce doctors’ debt by
replicating the system used in higher education in Vermont. If
a person gives two years of service in Americorps; Peace Corps.;
or a similar organization, their debt is relieved. For doctors,
of course, two years would not be adequate. Just a thought.
$7 million is only the tip of the iceberg that the private insurance system annually rips off from us in Vermont. Just think of what this could do, how many Vermonters could get health care under a single-payer system rather than dying for lack of access to affordable care. Doctors, also, could either go to med school courtesy of this $7 million and then some, or have debts forgiven, like they do in many other nations. Doctors could also actually treat patients rather than shove them in and out the door in order to keep the positive cash flow steady. Imagine, you would no longer have to fight to be with the doc for more than ten minutes, if that. Imagine.
It is time for single-payer.
Supporting medical training programs is an excellent idea! Let us keep in mind that there is more than $7 million in available savings if we convert to a single payer. Estimates range from $50- $500 million/year. Imagine how much we could do for the people of Vermont with that kind of money. Our money.
How long was the CEO employed and what were his total earnings? I’m sure he isn’t so close to bankruptcy that he needs a million or two to get by until he finds other employment. I’ve heard BC described as a “non-profit”. That may be technically true, but if any of the non-profits that I regularly contribute to were to do something like this, they would never get another contribution from me.
$7,000,000 or even half of that would provide a multitude of free/discount fitness memberships at local, non-profit recreational facilities for children and adults. If we are going to suggest supporting medical personnel training, plese do not limit it to MDs. Nursing and tharapist programs are also in need of support, especially in light of an impending critical nursing shortage.
Frank:
Of course we could dedicate money to prevention and fitness programs. The point of calculating what we could do with $7 million is- there is more than enough money currently being spent in “health care” that is really going to paperwork, profit and bureaucracy and would be better spent on delivering medical care, prevention and other services to Vermonters in need.