Dear Editor,
The Green Mountain Care Board is working hard at the near impossible task of reducing Vermont health care costs. Many Vermonters are unable to afford the high cost of health care insurance and are falling into medical debt. Since hospitals are a main driver of insurance premiums, the University of Vermont Health Network, which includes three Vermont hospitals and three in New York, must reduce their costs to make health insurance affordable.
UVM Health Network should not be blaming and undermining the decisions of the Green Mountain Care Board by threatening to cut services. The Green Mountain Care Board is a five-member board of health experts appointed by the governor with the responsibility to improve access, affordability and quality of health care for Vermonters.
UVM Health Network should be demonstrating their understanding of the health care crisis in Vermont and cooperating with the Green Mountain Care Board to make health care insurance more affordable. They should find steps to cut costs other than just cutting health care services. For instance, how deeply have they cut their administrative costs?
Mike Fisher, Vermont’s chief health care advocate, recently said, “We desperately need UVM and other hospitals to come to the table in good faith to figure out how we can best serve Vermonters, given the financial crisis we’re in.”
Sunny Eappen, accept the challenge, bring UVM Health Network to the table and by partnering with the Green Mountain Care Board, find real solutions to make health care insurance affordable for Vermonters!
Linda Andrews
(Women’s health nurse practitioner with Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Master of Public Health degrees)
Bristol