Editorials

Brattleboro Reformer Almost every week, here in Vermont, patients come to see me who are self-pay — a euphemism for having no health insurance. Sometimes they have delayed seeking care, because of their lack of insurance, until a relatively small problem has progressed to becoming a dangerous one. Numerous other patients I see aren’t self-pay, […]

VTDigger Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Dr. Bill Wood, an ear, nose and throat specialist who practices in Brattleboro. Almost every week, here in Vermont, patients come to see me who are “self-pay” – a euphemism for having no health insurance. Sometimes they have delayed seeking care, because of their lack of insurance, until […]

Rutland Herald Businesses face an all too familiar annual decision: Living in a competitive environment with labor costs rising, how much health insurance do I provide my employees? How much do I pay, how much do they pay? What is a reasonable plan, what level of deductible, what level of copay? I know that health […]

VTDigger Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Peter Sterling, the director of the Vermont Campaign for Health Care Security [1], a nonprofit organization that works to educate Vermonters about and assist them in enrolling in Vermont’s public health care programs: Catamount Health, VHAP and Dr Dynasaur. Hurricane Irene made headlines when it tore apart communities […]

VPR Hamilton E. Davis On a quiet morning in late February, Jonathan Martin, a political analyst for Politico, a leading national Web site, published a speculative piece about Hillary Clinton’s effect on the 2016 presidential election. Given her immense popularity, the possibility that Clinton might run is blocking the next generation of Democratic leaders from […]

Addison Independent By Marvin MalekThis week’s writer is Dr. Marvin Malek, MD MPH, who is an internist working at Central Vermont Hospital in Berlin. The financial problem that occurred recently at Porter Hospital isn’t the first and won’t be the last cost overrun we’ll see in Vermont related to the adoption of electronic health records […]

Burlington Free Press As we see more and more of our dollars going toward the rising costs of health care, it is critically important that we continue our efforts to control costs while providing better care for all Vermonters. The governor remains committed to this goal and we are working tirelessly toward achieving this much-needed […]

Brattleboro Reformer In 2014 the world of health insurance will look very different for about 250,000 Vermonters. According to state officials, up to 40 percent of the state’s population could be buying their insurance through something called Vermont Health Connect, the state’s version of the federally mandated exchange. More enlightened health policy advocates think we […]

Rutland Herald As more details come to light about the financing of Vermont’s new health care exchange, the difficulty of constructing a hybrid system based on health insurance becomes increasingly evident. Vermont is on a pathway toward a single-payer system that would be independent of insurance. Instead, it would provide something like Medicare for all, […]

VTDigger Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Peter Youngbaer, who is the director of the People’s Health & Wellness Clinic in Barre, which provides primary health care and wellness education to uninsured and underinsured residents of central Vermont who cannot otherwise afford these services. On Jan. 24, Gov. Peter Shumlin presented his budget for the […]