Editorials

VTDigger This commentary is by Miriam Tatum, of Derby. Tatum is a retired pediatrician in primary care and community hospital care for 30 years in Newport and Derby Line. She is an ally of the Vermont Worker Center. Almost a year ago, Newport and Northeast Kingdom residents first heard that a consultant to the Green […]

VTDigger Our current crisis demands bold solutions This commentary is by Julie Wasserman of Burlington, an independent health policy consultant who worked for Vermont state government for over 25 years. Vermonters cannot afford their current health care costs. How then could they afford Blue Cross Blue Shield’s proposed double-digit increases? For the coming year, BCBSVT […]

VTDigger This commentary is by Kenyon Bolton. He is an internal medicine physician who lives in East Montpelier. It is already difficult to find a new primary care clinician in Vermont. The “One Big Beautiful Bill” making its way through the U.S. Congress will likely make it harder thanks to its proposed Medicaid work requirements […]

The Valley Reporter The University of Vermont Health Network announced – with great fanfare – this week that it had submitted a proposal to the Green Mountain Care Board aimed at addressing health care affordability and access. The glowing report details how collaborative UVMHN folks worked to address issues of health care costs and patient […]

Vermont Standard “Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” — Isaac Asimov “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” — George Orwell We’ve had a confusing relationship with violence in this country. We claim to be a peace-loving people, yet we […]

VTDigger This commentary is by Liz Hunt of Charlotte. She is a pediatric nephrologist (children’s kidney doctor) at UVM Children’s Hospital. Since the Oliver Wyman Act 167 report was published and the Green Mountain Care Board announced its budget decision for the UVM Health Network, there has been a sense of worry and sadness at […]

VTDigger This commentary is by Marvin Malek, MD, MPH of Berlin. He is an internist and an active member of the Vermont Medical Society and Vermont Physicians for a National Health Program. On Sept. 26, 2024 — just three years after its launch and only three weeks before this year’s Medicare open enrollment period began […]

VTDigger This commentary is by Patrick Flood of Woodbury. He is former commissioner of the Vermont Department of Mental Health and the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living, and former deputy secretary of the Agency of Human Services.  Lately, there has been growing controversy about rising health care costs in Vermont and the central […]

VTDigger This commentary is by Tom Frank, CEO of North Country Hospital in Newport, and Shawn Tester, CEO of Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital in St. Johnsbury. For North County Hospital and Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital, collaboration and teamwork to protect local access to services, keep costs down and provide great care to our neighbors in […]

Addison Independent This past summer I had the amazing opportunity to visit Greece. It was a family event with eleven people participating, and as a group we stayed on two islands. Visiting a place so different from one’s usual situation offers incredible moments: olive orchards terracing mountainsides; archeological features from thousands of years ago, some […]