By Kurt Staudter
Given the foolishness in Washington, D.C., I didn’t think I could be shocked anymore — the outrages just keep climbing to new and more dizzying heights. However, I wasn’t prepared for the same sort of executive-order crap out of Gov. Phil Scott. Yet, here we are. Recently, our governor, in his infinite wisdom and with a stroke of his pen, is looking at foolishly doing away with “community rating” of the population to set rates for health insurance.
Just one of two states that force insurers to set rates based on the total population, Phil Scott has just set off a free-market freefor-all by telling the insurance companies that they can charge older people more for health insurance. Now, considering the median age in Vermont is 43, and the largest age group, almost 8% of the population, is between the ages of 60 and 64, in an election year, Phil Scott just raised insurancerates for a huge segment of voters, and one would hope those voters remember this in November.
OK, this is what’s going on. This is a huge gift to the healthcare industrial complex. And they don’t need it. Recently, UnitedHealth announced net earnings of $5.48 billion. That’s the difference between what they collect in premiums and what they spend on care for us. Pure and simple, we live in a society where we believe that large corporations are entitled to profit off our sick and dying. Now our dear governor is helping them fatten their bottom line.
To be fair, the governor believes that by eliminating the community rating and charging older people more, and exploring how you can charge people more for insurance if you drink or smoke: What’s next, preexisting conditions? These changes would do a few things: first, they should lower rates for younger folks. This would have a downward pressure on school and state budgets and at least bend the cost curve for insurance. This might lower property taxes for a little while, but with double-digit insurance increases each year, those initial gains won’t last long. Finally, all of the insurance companies that left the state because of things like mental health parity and community rating will return now that the state will become ripe for exploitation again.
Until Gov. Peter Shumlin pulled the plug on the Vermont effort toward single-payer/universal coverage healthcare, claiming it was too expensive for a small state to take on, we were well on our way to being the first in the nation to find another way. This refusal by Shumlin to move forward gave a green light to Democrats to do nothing significant on the issue for over a decade. Since then, they’ve nibbled at the edges as the cost keeps going up and the quality of the care is going down. You see, there are just some things in society we should do collectively out of human decency.
It probably didn’t have anything to do with it, but you will remember the Shumlin administration was embroiled in the Kingdom Con scandal, and he was accused of a shady property deal in Putney. Given his mounting troubles, he just lacked the political capital to push single-payer forward. So he let it go instead of doing the heavy lifting of convincing the public that they would pay less for better care that covers everyone by cutting off the insurance company profiteers. It’s time we move on from our failed system.
Have you seen what’s happening at small hospitals that are closing their birthing units? Amazingly, two hospitals in Vermont that made that decision are now finding support in their areas to have healthcare professionals continue pre- and post-natal care. The towns are helping pay to continue this vital service. Some towns are also hiring their own healthcare professionals to serve community members. The idea of a town nurse is brilliant, and will knock down barriers to care in that town. Perhaps insurance companies will give towns with a nurse a break on their rates, like towns with full-time fire departments get on their homeowners insurance.
I’ve long used this space to advocate for healthcare reform. Healthcare reform, not health insurance reform, but healthcare reform! The way we are doing it now is leading to outcomes that are on par with some third-world countries. Which brings us back to natal care; we have a shameful infant mortality rate in this country. It’s embarrassing. And closing birthing units fixes this problem how?
So to all you wannabe lawmakers, healthcare reform is the big nut to crack for our generation. Fix our dysfunctional healthcare system, and you will lower our property taxes, reinvigorate our community hospitals, and create a workplace for healthcare professionals that deals with patient care instead of a tsunami of insurance paperwork and preapprovals. Imagine doctors actually doctoring—what a concept, eh?
Contact Kurt Staudter at staudter@sover.net.