Editorials

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 […]

VTDigger This commentary is by Robert Gardner of Rochester. He is a retired television journalist. The radical and ill-conceived proposal to close Gifford Medical Center as part of an overall plan to reduce health care costs in Vermont reminds me of a good friend who was suffering from cancer and was given very aggressive chemotherapy. […]

VTDigger This commentary is by Emily Jankowski of Derby, a licensed clinical mental health counselor. I grew up in Derby, and after moving away for many years, decided to return to the Northeast Kingdom to raise my own family, and work as a mental health therapist. I genuinely believe there is no better place to […]

Vermont Standard By Kurt Staudter While the presidential cycle swirls around us like an angry tornado, now finally showing signs that it’s coming to an end (the ballots have arrived), let’s take on a subject that should be on the minds of all wannabe state lawmakers: Systemic healthcare reform. Last week, yet another report was […]

HEALTH CARE –un-covered Deb Richter and Ethan Parke Could a state, or the federal government, set up a system of universal primary care as a first step toward comprehensive, publicly funded health care for all? The experience of Vermont suggests that such a program is worth looking at, if for no other reason than to […]