On May 12, VTDigger reported that “Vermonters spent $6.5 billion on health in 2019, and costs continue to rise.” This was a “4.5% increase for Vermonters over the previous year” and amounts to “$10,442 per person.”
What do we get for this $6.5 billion? Is our care or access to it getting any better for $10,422 per person? Are we getting more primary care physicians? Does the continuing consolidation of our health care under Dartmouth-Hitchcock and University of Vermont Medical Center, with their high-salaried administrators, help us in any way? They rake in millions a year, and continually press for higher fees under Vermont’s new “all-payer” model that may technically be a “reform,” but is far from an improvement. continue reading..