Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Rep. Gary Gilbert, D-Fairfax/Georgia. He is a member of the House Education Committee.
H.202 is a cautious step to combat the rapid rise of health care cost for Vermonters and not the great leap that some have suggested. Education cost increases have received a great deal of attention over the last few years. Voters hate to see their educational property tax bill. It is visible and immediate. They know it is going to come out of their pockets even if they pay based on income. They know each time they send money to schools; they just don’t know how much of that increase is caused by health care costs.
Health care costs are not as evident as education costs, but have a broader societal impact. They drive increases in every service and product offered in Vermont. But health care costs are often shared with an employer and the employee may not be aware of the total cost for their coverage. I have heard from an employer whose cost for a health benefit package is greater than their profits for the year. This business owner is acutely aware of the costs and how much they are increasing.
Let me put this in perspective. In the six years for 2004-2010 education spending saw an average annual growth of 4.87 percent with a total growth of 33 percent. This was not good. During the same period the cost of Medicaid revenues saw an average annual growth of 8.43 percent with a total growth of 62 percent. Not only is this twice the rate of education increases, but it is also a significant cause of that increase. A projected total health spending increase of $1 million a day cannot continue, and we need to take steps to counter that growth. The question is whether it is possible to direct more of that cost toward care by applying less to administrative overhead.
H.202 is a move in that direction. It constructs a process that will be very transparent to the public. There are multiple checkpoints and places where legislative action would be required before the next successive step could be taken. It is your legislative body that will ask and determine answers to the important questions before each step. They will need to understand what will be in a benefits package, the cost of that package and a financing plan. This would be followed by enacting a Green Mountain Care budget. Public input will be sought at each step.
It is important to remember that health insurance companies do not provide health care. They manage the flow of dollars between the provider and the client at a cost to the client. A single pipeline for multiple payers could effectively reduce this off the top cost and allow more of our health care dollars to be used for services instead of paperwork.
