Editor’s note: This commentary is by Patrick Flood, the former commissioner of the Department of Mental Health and the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living, and former deputy secretary of the Agency of Human Services. He is now retired and lives in Woodbury.
There is probably very little the progressive Vermont Workers’ Center and the conservative Ethan Allen Institute agree on, but there is one issue they do. Both organizations agree that the state’s current efforts in health care reform, the All Payer Model implemented by OneCare Vermont, are misguided and have failed. Rob Roper of the Ethan Allen Institute recently called it a “debacle.” The Workers Center hosted a virtual public hearing on June 30 that featured two hours of Vermonters describing how our health care system has failed them, which included blunt criticism of the accountable care organization, OneCare Vermont. continue reading