Letters

Bennington Banner Why are American health care costs so high? Experts offer up an extensive menu of explanations, which other experts dispute. The answer is a lot simpler than they make it. To paraphrase James Carville, “It’s the administrative costs, stupid.” In 2011, the Commonwealth Fund reported that U.S. medical offices spent 20.6 hours a […]

Brattleboro Reformer Editor of the Reformer, A few weeks ago the Census Bureau released its annual report on health insurance coverage in the U.S., showing that the number of uninsured has grown. Nearly 2 million people lost coverage between 2017 and 2018, a sign that our broken system is getting even worse. Last year there […]

Addison Independent I am writing to you regarding the Green Mountain Care Board decision to again approve a double digit increase for Blue Cross (12.4 percent) and MVP (10.1 percent) on Thursday. These increases in insurance rates make it impossible for families living on a fixed income to afford insurance. So it’s a choice between […]

Bennington Banner Health industry lobbyists keep claiming to wonder why we need Medicare for All when, they insist, we have such a wonderful system already. Well, here are 12 reasons: — 9/11 first responders wouldn’t have to beg for health care. — People in horrible accidents wouldn’t have to resort to online begging. — People […]

Bennington Banner To the Editor: Almost every week I see patients at the Bennington Free Clinic with heartbreaking stories about their health care. Last week it was a patient who has so many medical problems that she could keep an army of specialists very busy. She doesn’t qualify for Medicaid because her husband works and […]

St. Albans Messenger Do we need Blues, MVP? We do not. The editorial by Emerson Lynn “15.6% rate increase is insane (Messenger, May 15, 2019) raises an important question about Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont (BCBS) that we need to face both in Vermont and, for that matter, across the land. BCBS consumes a […]

Bennington Banner To the Editor: Recently we have been caring for a man with a history of coronary artery bypass grafting and Type 2 diabetes. About two years ago he lost his job and his health insurance and couldn’t afford to see his doctor. He soon ran out of insulin and went without it for […]

Brattleboro Reformer Peter Shumlin got it wrong when he backed down from implementing a single-payer healthcare system in Vermont in 2014. Five years later, middle and lower income people all over Vermont are struggling even harder to meet the rising costs of health care. The recent state survey found that 3 percent of Vermonters under […]

Times Argus Five years after most of the provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) came into effect, the health care law is still a political hot button issue that has been embroiled in legal challenges since President Obama signed it into law in 2010. Republicans have tried multiple times – unsuccessfully […]

Brattleboro Reformer   Editor of the Reformer, The following letter was sent to our VT House health care committee members: Dear Rep. Lippert and fellow Vermont House Health Care Committee members, I was delighted to see that Brian Cina’s bill has been introduced and sent to your committee for consideration. After looking over your agenda […]