Like many others I attended the local meeting described in “State healthcare system needs Rx” (8/1/24) to learn about the results of the $1.1 million study commissioned by the Green Mountain Care Board. Yes, indeed, the information presented was grim, but one wonders if this study is just “one more study.”
We already knew most of the bad news: Vermont exchange premiums have gone up over 100% and are way more than the national average; 9 out of our 14 hospitals are in the red; patients delay or defer care due to high out-of-pocket costs; many hospital staff can’t afford housing; and primary care is often unavailable, forcing patients “to get care in more expensive emergency departments of hospitals.”
While the report suggested correctly that “solving Vermont’s challenge requires concerted, sustained systems transformation,” it shied away from promoting such transformation. Even performing many of the report’s recommendations would leave us far from a sustainable and affordable health care system.
Wouldn’t we be better able to plan hospital and related health care for an area if we implemented Act 48 and created a publicly financed universal system? That would allow for real global budgets. It would also greatly reduce the administrative costs that so many middlemen add to the current system (over 30% of every health care dollar) and allow us to attune services to the needs of a region.
We could phase in publicly financed health care starting with Universal Primary Care. Everyone needs primary care, which is a foundation for any sustainable health care system. We could also start such a phase-in process with Universal Hospital Care, allowing for hospital sustainability through global budgeting, planning and price control.
Putting off creation of the universal publicly financed health care system called for in Act 48 means health care costs will continue rising, and access will continue getting worse.
Ellen Oxfeld
Middlebury