Editorials

  Rutland Herald Future health care premium increases will likely trigger educational excess spending threshold penalty. As many of us are painfully and often personally aware, the cost of health care premium increases has been in the double digits during the past several years and there is no end in sight. What many Vermonters might […]

  POLITICO By Senator Bernie Sanders As the coronavirus continues to spread, and the United States climbs closer to 1 million cases and nearly 60,000 deaths, we face an unprecedented economic and health care crisis that demands an unprecedented response. While we work toward an economic solution that keeps people on the payroll, Washington is also […]

VTDigger Editor’s note: This commentary is by Richard Slusky, of South Burlington, who was the CEO of Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center in Windsor from 1982 to 2010, after which was director of payment reform for the Green Mountain Care Board until 2016. He is now the owner of Slusky Consulting. The coronavirus pandemic has […]

  Bennington Banner  By Avery Book, Dear Governor Scott, We are poor and working-class Vermont residents who are struggling amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of us have lost our jobs, while others are forced to work as essential workers, putting our lives on the line to serve our communities and earn a living. It is […]

  VTDigger Editor’s note: This commentary is by Richard Davis, of Guilford, who has been active in health care reform for 30 years. Semi-retired after a 40-year nursing career, he volunteers at the Brattleboro Walk In Clinic counseling people on insurance options.  Everyone treating Covid-19 patients is risking their lives. Doctors, nurses, respiratory, physical and […]

The Progressive Rather, the plan was killed by conservatives and the health care industry for political reasons before it was ever implemented. by Lee Russ The people intent on killing “Medicare for All” have found a convenient weapon—the fact that Vermont, Bernie Sanders’s own state, passed a law creating a single-payer system in 2011, then killed […]

VTDigger Editor’s note: This commentary is by Ellen Oxfeld, a member of the board of the advocacy group Vermont Health Care for All. She lives in Middlebury. “What if there was a prolonged illness in the family? Should I be pacified by the fact that I only have to come up with $15,000 out of my […]

VTDigger Editor’s note: This commentary is by Susan Aranoff, J.D., who is a senior planner and policy analyst for the Vermont Developmental Disabilities Council. Judging from a recent uptick in VTDigger commentaries about health care reform, Vermonters have many questions about our state’s experiment known as the All-Payer Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Model. None is […]

Bennington Banner By Fay Homan, MD After a decade of federal and state healthcare reform efforts, each with its own catch phrase, acronyms and political perspective, there is one area of remarkable agreement. Any approach to increasing quality and decreasing cost is built on a strong foundation of primary care. However, there simply aren’t enough […]

VTDigger Editor’s note: This commentary is by Ethan Parke, of Monpelier, who is a member of Vermont Health Care for All. A version of this commentary was submitted to the Green Mountain Care Board. Structural and functional problems with the OneCare/All Payer Model are beginning to become evident; the Green Mountain Care Board should take […]