Letters

VTDigger We are at a real crossroads in our country as most Americans can afford neither health care coverage nor the cost of prescription drugs. Several state and national plans are being discussed to try to make health care a right and not a privilege in the U.S. Unfortunately, there are still too many folks […]

VTDigger In “OneCare is not the problem with Vermont’s health care” (June 28), Michael Long asserts that “fee-for-service … is the reason health care in the U.S. is the most expensive, but not the most effective.” That’s a questionable claim at best. Canada, for example, largely continues to rely on fee-for-service within its single-payer health […]

VTDigger I thank the VTDigger for the article on the Green Mountain Care Board: “10 years after it was created, has the Green Mountain Care Board worked?” To me, the answer is yes; it has worked and well. The proof here is the letter Mr. John Brumsted, CEO of the UVM Health Network, sent the […]

St. Albans Messenger I agree with much, but not all, of Emerson Lynn’s June 8 column “Gov to lead on health care? Deal with GMCB first.” I disagree with this. The Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB) is only carrying out its assigned mission handed down by the legislature and our governor. For the record, I […]

VTDigger On May 12, VTDigger reported that “Vermonters spent $6.5 billion on health in 2019, and costs continue to rise.” This was a “4.5% increase for Vermonters over the previous year” and amounts to “$10,442 per person.” What do we get for this $6.5 billion? Is our care or access to it getting any better […]

Bennington Banner Have you or someone you know experienced hearing loss?  Did an audiologist recommend that you get hearing aids?  Were you shocked to discover that hearing aids cost from $2,000 to $6,000?  Were you surprised to find out that your health insurance plan, if you had one, didn’t cover hearing aids? Did you struggle […]

VTDigger OneCare Vermont is called an accountable care organization, but the word “accountable” is a serious misnomer. This private corporation has received over $1 billion in public Medicaid money since 2017, but refuses to turn over much of its salary information to the state’s auditor. Vermont’s Attorney General has rightly sued OneCare so we can […]

  Saint Albans Messenger I wanted to respond to Mr. Emerson Lynn’s editorial “Auditor’s ego threatens progress on state’s all-payer model health care experiment” (February 5, 2021), concerning the lawsuit by our state auditor against OneCare over its salary problems. First, and for the record, I am on the advisory committee of the Green Mountain […]

  VTDigger OneCare, Vermont’s billion-dollar answer to prepay doctors to keep patients healthy in a country with almost no safety net left, must expire before its costs explode us. Vermont loves paying low hourly wages. Three hundred new multimillionaires just moved into Vermont. Perhaps we need a state structure to teach the millionaires how to […]

  Bennington Banner To the Editor: In the face of underperformance by OneCare Vermont, the Scott administration has issued an “Implementation Improvement Plan.” The assumption behind this reboot report is that the model is sound and merely needs adjustments. But the report fails to address the biggest problems that Vermont residents face in accessing healthcare. […]