Editorials

VTDigger This commentary is by Patrick Flood, former commissioner of the Department of Mental Health and the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living, and former deputy secretary of the Agency of Human Services. He is now retired and lives in Woodbury. Recently there has been a lot of press coverage of a Centers for […]

VTDigger This commentary is by Marvin Malek, M.D., MPH, a general internist practicing hospital medicine in Springfield. A study published in the July 21 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that 17.8% of Americans had medical-related debt that had been sent to debt collections agencies. Since there is nearly always a […]

VTDigger This commentary is by Julie Wasserman, MPH, of Burlington, a health policy consultant working independently. She worked for Vermont state government for over 25 years, including division director of policy and planning for the Department of Aging and Disabilities, and legislative staff to the Senate Health and Welfare Committee. She participated in Vermont’s three-year […]

Caledonian Record By Lee Russ You know what’s really hard to do? Solve a problem when you ignore all the facts about that problem. Which leads me to the unmitigated disaster that we call “American healthcare.” There’s near universal agreement that our current health care system costs far too much, really doesn’t work that well […]

It’s only fair to acknowledge that BCBS is stuck between a rock and a greedy pharmaceutical industry. The cost of prescription drugs is a major driver in the skyrocketing cost of health care coverage......It’s just one more reason why we need single-payer health care.

Seven Days By Paula Routy I’ve had some bad migraine headaches in the last 40 years, but none like the one that sent me to the emergency room on April 13. The first sign of it — a fuzzy line through my field of vision — came just before dinner, but I soldiered on through […]

VTDigger Editor’s note: This commentary is by Patrick Flood, the former commissioner of the Department of Mental Health and the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living, and former deputy secretary of the Agency of Human Services. He is now retired and lives in Woodbury. There is probably very little the progressive Vermont Workers’ Center […]

Valley News By Ellen Oxfeld Let’s hope Vermont is looking in the rearview mirror at the coronavirus pandemic. Have we learned anything about health care? Most people agree that Vermont did better than most states at controlling the spread of the virus, and now, with 80% of the eligible population having received at least one […]

Bennington Banner This session, Vermont’s lawmakers established a Task Force on Affordable, Accessible Health Care charged with soliciting public input and reporting its findings to the 2022 legislative session. The Task Force represents a long-overdue opportunity to address the crisis of healthcare access and affordability in Vermont, which was only exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. […]

VTDigger This commentary is by Hannah Rabin, M.D., a family doctor at Richmond Family Medicine. I have been a family  doctor in independent practice in Vermont for more than 20 years, currently at Richmond Family Medicine, where I am one of three family doctors. Our practice also includes three family nurse practitioners and three part-time […]