[T]op lawmakers are considering whether to hold a formal discussion on the growing profit margins at Vermont hospitals.
The move comes in the wake of a VTDigger investigation showing that, despite regulation to control health care costs, hospitals tripled their profits and doubled their assets over the past 10 years.
Rep. David Sharpe, D-Bristol, the chair of the House Education Committee, was the first to raise questions about hospital profits at a meeting of the Joint Fiscal Committee on July 25. He said the data in the VTDigger investigation concerned him.
Sharpe said in an interview that insurance companies, the state’s Medicaid program and the Green Mountain Care Board may not have “demonstrated the ability to control costs in our health care system, and as a legislator that concerns me.”
Al Gobeille, the chair of the Green Mountain Care Board, declined to comment for this story, saying it would be improper to do so before hospitals make presentations on their budgets later this month.
Sharpe pointed to the premium increases that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont and MVP Health Care are asking the Green Mountain Care Board to approve. The average increases, 8.2 percent and 6.3 percent, respectively, are much higher than the rate of inflation, he said.
“I don’t have any answers, and I’m not chair of the Health Care Committee,” Sharpe said. “All I know is in the Education Committee we’re working our little tail off to try to reduce the cost of education and save money for taxpayers.”
He said the Health Care Committee might work on the issue in the next session. “I will continue to ask questions and learn more about it,” he said. “Health care is not my area of expertise, but like most citizens, I’m concerned about cost.”
Sen. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, who is chair of the Joint Fiscal Committee, said the most appropriate place for a discussion about hospital profits would be the Health Reform Oversight Committee, which is planning to hold another meeting at the end of the summer. Kitchel is a member of that panel as well.
Rep. Janet Ancel, D-Calais, is the co-chair of the Health Reform Oversight Committee. She said she is interested only in having a productive conversation about the rising cost of health care.
“If we can work out a way to have a productive discussion about it, I think we’ll probably do that,” Ancel said. “I don’t want to do that if it’s not going to move us in a positive direction.”
She said other topics at the oversight committee’s next hearing could include ongoing reprocessing of Medicaid eligibility and accountable care organizations.
