Will the new legislators have the courage to tackle health care? disaster? – InsuranceNewsNet

Imagine a group of people watching a house burn. They are grouped around a fire hydrant and a hose is rolled up at their feet. As the house burns, people discuss how they could make it rain to put out the fire. Maybe prayer would work? Maybe a rain dance? Maybe sow the clouds? The house continues to burn.

Absurd, right? But a pretty good analogy to today’s health care nightmare and our reaction to it. In the political debates that preceded the November elections in Vermont, the subject of health was most often missing. This is quite odd, given the prominence of this topic in the state media, the chronicle of doctor shortages, the long wait times to see a doctor and, of course, the ever-increasing cost of Health care. Think of silence as the equivalent of praying for rain to put out the fire.

Health is a necessity, not a consumer product that people can do without if they don’t like the price. The industry can charge just about any price it wants.

The cost of health insurance is rising dramatically faster than incomes, prompting the regulator’s chairman to call the rates unaffordable.” [https://vtdigger.org/2019/08/08/insurance-rate-increases-approved-12-4-for-bcbs-10-1-for-mvp/] There are said to be “approximately 30,000 Vermonters with medical debts in collection and tens of thousands more paying medical bills that have not reached collection.” [https://www.wcax.com/2022/04/19/why-vermonters-carry-less-medical-debt/]

The only solution offered to date by the Vermont executive and legislative bodies is another vulture, the “responsible care organization” OneCare, which feeds on taxpayers’ money without providing or improving care in any way. At the recent GMCB hearing on OneCare’s budget, a GMCB member remarked that he was looking for evidence that OneCare was delivering results “that matter to patients”, but “I can’t find it”.

There has been a big turnover in the VT Legislature. Do we dare to hope that new legislators will finally have the courage and common sense to finally notice the fire hydrant? Maybe even discuss solutions like a publicly funded universal care plan?

Lee Russ