Walter Carpenter: Health insurance déjà vu

VTDigger Dear Editor, The recent VTDigger article about the financial struggles of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont was déjà vu. It reminded me of another time in the past when we were at this point where Blue Cross Blue Shield was petitioning the Green Mountain Care Board for huge rate increases to prevent their […]

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Treat and fund health care as a human right

Morrisville News and Citizen To the Editor: I thank Rep. Dave Yacovone for his recent commentary (“There is no quick fix to solve health care problems,” Feb. 27, 2025). Rep. Yacovone details how our ailing healthcare system is failing so badly. To quote Rep. Yacovone, “To say that the health care system is unraveling is […]

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An Obsession with Efficiency…Except in Healthcare

Caledonian Record To the Editor: America’s current obsession with efficiency is absurd when you look at American healthcare. It is the epitome of inefficiency and it accounts for more than 17% of national GDP [https://www.cms.gov/data-research/statistics-trends-and-reports/national-health-expenditure-data/historical]. In Vermont, our 2019 healthcare cost of $6.5 billion [https://vtdigger.org/2021/05/12/vermonters-spent-6-5-billion-on-health-care-in-2019/] accounted for roughly 18.5% of VT’s 2019 GDP of $35 […]

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Jeff Seymour: School district consolidation is barking up the wrong tree

VTDigger Dear Editor, I do not support the governor’s plan to consolidate school districts. I grew up outside of Denver Colorado, in a district roughly as populous as Vermont. And do you know what that school district is grappling with today? How to plug holes in its $1 billion budget without increasing property taxes for […]

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Lee Russ: Health care reform debates need to include patients’ interests

VTDigger Dear Editor, Tom Sullivan is right that “It’s time to come together to find common ground and an amicable path forward for health care reform in Vermont.” But he lists the parties that should come together as “health care providers, regulators, insurance carriers and the Legislature.” What’s missing from that list? Patients: all those […]

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Single-payer solution

Times Argus I just read the headline No silver bullet solution re health care/education/taxes. Actually, there is: Single payer would solve all those problems. Health care costs would go down, so education costs would go down, so taxes would go down — win-win-win. Sandra Bettis   Montpelier —

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Healthcare is Not Acceptable

Caledonian Record To the Editor: As the commercial healthcare industry launches a public defense of itself in the wake of the killing of United Healthcare’s CEO, many point to Canada and the UK as reasons to fear a single payer healthcare system for Americans. These single payer opponents seem to simply ignore the reasons that […]

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Walter Carpenter: CEO pay is no red herring in the health care debate

VTDigger It shows remarkable insensitivity to the average Vermonter that the top brass was unwilling to reduce their lavish compensation packages by even a penny to share in the sacrifices we all have to make now. In response to Dr. Nat Mulkey’s recent commentary, “It’s time for a new narrative on the UVM Health Network […]

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