By Michael Bielawski
As Vermont’s hospitals struggle financially, a bill by the House Healthcare Committee would have the state oversee financial records.
Lawmakers also learned that Vermont’s two health insurance companies are struggling, and Vermonters are paying more for their coverage.
Vermonters paying for expensive loans
“Part of the issue here is Blue Cross [Blue Cross/Blue Shield] is taking out loans at eight percent annual interest to continue operations,” Owen Foster, J.D., chair of the Green Mountain Care Board, said to lawmakers in the House Healthcare Committee on Friday. “So that’s a million and a half dollars a year that ratepayers have to cover so Blue Cross can get those loans.”
MVP Healthcare and Blue Cross/Blue Shield are the two health insurance companies.
Hospitals’ records can be taken
The committee’s bill is 25-0975, which authorizes the Green Mountain Care Board to appoint a ‘hospital observer’ who can collect records regarding their economic stability or lack thereof. They would “oversee a hospital and its operations if the Board finds the hospital has made a material misrepresentation or is out of compliance with its budget and the Board believes that appointing an independent observer is in the public interest,” and the hospital would pay for it.
It states, “The Board may order a hospital to pay for all or a portion of the costs of an independent observer appointed for the hospital pursuant to this subdivision.”
The Board would then be able to make recommendations on how the hospital can adapt to get out of financial trouble.
It says that the observer will “monitor the hospital’s operations, obtain information from the hospital, and report findings and recommendations to the Board.”
Not forcing closures
In the past, the Board has been adamant that they won’t force hospitals to close against a community’s will. Foster said in a press release back in November, “The Oliver Wyman report does not mandate any changes at any Vermont hospital. Rather, it provides a projection of Vermont’s financial headwinds and provides options for local communities and hospital leaders to consider.”
On Friday, Foster spoke to lawmakers on the urgency that at least four hospitals are facing. He identified the Brattleboro, Grace, Giffords, and Springfield hospitals as being in “acute financial distress.”
The Committee’s chair, Rep. Alyssa Black, D-Essex, suggested that this bill would be meant as a last resort measure for struggling hospitals.
“This is a short-term, I would call, emergent authority for what is right now in this moment a dire circumstance. And we could discuss for hours how we got to this, but regardless, we’re here,” Black said.
Some communities have pushed back against suggestions for a closure. Newport Mayor Linda Sullivan wrote in a report in September of 2024, “I can’t think of anything that would more discourage the investors and development we are trying to attract to the region than to have the State communicate that we so little value the communities in this remote and isolated part of the State that we are as a State going to just gut our health care infrastructure here.”
Loss of services?
Foster told the committee, “Our healthcare system is at a true inflection point with immediate risk of loss of services and loss of coverage of insurance. One of them is domiciled here and it’s having acute financial distress. If the insurer has an inability to pay claims or cannot remain in the QHP [Qualified Healthcare Plan] market in 2026, there’s a very high risk that the other insurer from New York leaves the market.”
He suggested that if these companies leave, then “70,000-plus Verrmonters cannot get health insurance.”
“Devasting to public health”
Foster said, “There would be no small group, means your restaurants, your creamy stands, your nonprofits, your FQHCs, your small independent practices may not have an option to buy health care insurance for their employees. That is devastating to public health.”
There is currently no law requiring people to purchase health insurance. Citizens without insurance default to a pay-per-visit model with billing adjusted to their income, commonly known as Charity Care.
Foster said that the insolvency of these companies “really jeopardizes the sustainability of the entirety of the healthcare system.” He added, “This bill would allow the care board in those extraordinary circumstances to lower the prices of particular hospitals to protect from that event happening. So the metrics here are a 125 days cash on hand, and a positive operating margin.”
This observer could access information regarding whole hospital networks, such as UVM Medical Center, which has five campuses. The observer could ask for “any information regarding the hospital’s participation in a hospital network.”
Foster told the committee, “This will not fix Vermont’s health care problems,” but he did say, “It will really help get us where we have more time to fix the system because we haven’t lost the insurer.”
On Monday, Black told VDC that the committee bill is still in the drafting stage and it will reappear soon in a more traditional bill form.
Reach out to your lawmakers
See all bills assigned to this committee here. Constituents may contact committee members (click link on name for bio, party affiliation, etc.) with comments, questions, and information at the following email addresses:
House Healthcare
Rep. Alyssa Black, Chair, ablack@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Francis McFaun, Vice Chair, fmcfaun@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Daisy Berbeco, Ranking Member, dberbeco@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Brian Cina, bcina@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Mari Cordes, Clerk, mcordes@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Wendy Critchlow, wcritchlow@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Allen “Penny” Demar, ademar@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Leslie Goldman, lgoldman@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Lori Houghton, LHoughton@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Woodman Page, wpage@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Debra Powers, dpowers@leg.state.vt.us
All committee transcripts are available at http://www.goldendomevt.com. The Committee meeting video is available at the committee’s YouTube channel. The committee meets in the morning in Room 42.
The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle