Plan to avoid crash to be announced September 18
By Mike Bielawski
Vermont’s hospitals want “immediate, decisive action” as they face negative operating budgets and increasingly shaky health care insurance. The call for help comes as Vermont health care insurance premium rates are expected to climb 20%.
Their specific desired course of action will be outlined 10 AM Wednesday Sept. 18, at an online-accessible public meeting will be held by the Green Mountain Care Board titled “Act 167 Community Engagement to Support Hospital Transformation: Final Report.” Vermont hospitals’ leadership is expected to explain how they hope to stay economically viable while enduring rising operational costs in a challenging economy. Also, despite steep rate increases, Vermont’s non-profit insurers have lost significant reserves and face solvency challenges, consultant Dr. Bruce Hamory said.
The Board’s press release from late July indicated they are facing a dire economic situation. The report by a GMCB consultant stated, “Unless immediate decisive action is taken to transform Vermont’s health care system, it will be financially unsustainable by 2030.”
A GMCB consultant predicts that by 2030 nearly all Vermont hospitals will have negative operating margins.
It further states, “The problems facing Vermont hospitals include a lack of access and transportation to medical care, long waits in Emergency Departments, high insurance costs, a lack of communication with patients about possible help from financial services, and long waits for medical procedures.”
In early August the Board had another report indicating that the hospitals’ costs are growing at a faster rate than their income. The Board had hired Dr. Bruce Hamory to audit Vermont’s hospital’s economic situation.
VDC reported, “Hamory’s team projected that based on 3.5% hospital revenue growth and 5% cost growth, in five years, nearly all Vermont hospitals will have negative operating margins. The benchmark Silver Plan Blue Cross-Blue Shield premium in Vermont has risen 108% since 2018 and is the highest in the nation.”
The GMCB’s Chair Owen Foster is quoted saying, “We don’t want to see that chaos happen in any community in Vermont. To prevent this, we’ll need to be proactive and bold. Vermont has a tremendous opportunity that allows us to design a durable system that is responsive to our changing demographics.”
Vermonters already struggling
Vermonters are not feeling good about the overall cost of living in the Green Mountain State. One poll from late August by the University of New Hampshire discovered that few Vermonters think they are doing better economically than last year and about 4-in-10 said just meeting basic needs is a challenge.
Affordability has become a challenge on other fronts besides health care, including taxation, housing, energy, and replacing/repairing aging schools.
- The state’s residents also just got another double-digit property tax increase. Originally the increase was going to be over 20% but two new taxes were created to produce revenue to buy the rate down just for this year. The Legislature added a 6% sales tax on Software as a Service and a 3% surcharge on short-term rentals, among other new fees such as at the DMV.
- The cost of a gallon of fuel oil will rise $2-4/gallon if the Clean Heat Standard is implemented, based on estimates in a state-mandated report released last week. According to the higher estimate, a 250 gallon fuel tank will cost an additional $1,000 to fill.
- Also, Vermont’s aging schools will need $6.3 billion to repair or replace, another state study concluded.
- Also, Vermont’s home prices have risen more steeply than any other state.
The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle