To the editor:
The Sept. 25 commentary by Mr. Abe Berman, interim CEO of OneCare, “OneCare Vermont is successfully driving down health care costs,” was interesting in that it seemed enshrouded in delusions.
I am not sure what study Mr. Berman quoted to show that OneCare is saving us any money, but on the street level, where it really matters, this study hardly has any credence. This is especially true after this hospital budget season. Once again, the hospitals hit the Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB) with requests for huge rate increases and treated us to the usual mantras of how essential services could be cut if the GMCB did not grant them these raises. This has happened every year since OneCare became part of Vermont’s health care landscape. We can argue about these costs all we want to, but the irrefutable fact is that these always-rising costs are borne by people whose incomes do not rise nearly as fast as their health care costs, despite OneCare’s claims. This is without the issue of OneCare’s CEO salaries and OneCare’s refusal to disclose them, a problem that is currently stuck in the court system.
It should be remembered that the public is paying these salaries as well as for OneCare out of our premium and tax dollars. While OneCare may have spared a few bucks here and there for a few, it has done nothing overall to reduce our costs or increase quality and has probably made our costs even worse.
Walter Carpenter
Montpelier, Sept. 28