Vermont hospitals have received more than $301 million in state and federal aid since the coronavirus pandemic began in 2020, new data from the Vermont Agency of Human Services shows.
The Agency of Human Services data reflected money from three sources:
- The largest chunk — $184 million — came from direct payouts from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for Covid-19 care, vaccinations and testing.
- Eight of the state’s 14 nonprofit hospitals also got a collective $105 million in one-time grants from the state.
- Eight hospitals got more than $12 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to handle the health care staffing crisis.
The infusion of funds from the Trump and Biden administrations helped hospitals deal with losses from delaying surgeries and other nonurgent care. Hospitals also used the money to pay for testing, immunization and other Covid-19 activities.
The vast majority of that taxpayer money — roughly 60% — went to the University of Vermont Health Network, the largest hospital operator in the state. That’s almost $180 million to three hospitals: University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin and Porter Hospital in Middlebury.
The hospitals in Burlington and Berlin recently got the green light from state regulators to raise prices of services midyear after network leaders argued the one-time federal payouts can’t make up for ongoing inflation and personnel costs.
The only way to balance the budget in the current fee-for-service system, network executives argued, is to raise prices on commercial insurers and their enrollees.
University of Vermont spokesperson Annie Mackin said on Wednesday the network used up the federal funds to offset losses from canceling and delaying surgeries and for Covid-19 activities such as standing up vaccine clinics, purchasing protective equipment on behalf of the state and more.
“We are facing a new challenge in the form of expense inflation not seen since the 1980s, and need to stabilize so we can move forward our work to meet the needs of patients into the future,” she said in a statement. “Federal COVID-19 aid cannot play that role, as it was meant to support hospitals with their losses during the pandemic.”
The health network is an enormous fish in a sea of much smaller hospitals, so any increase in its prices has serious consequences for health care spending in Vermont.
The network asked for a $44 million increase in charges for the Burlington and Berlin hospitals, but the Green Mountain Care Board last week allowed for only up to $14 million. Network leaders have already indicated they’ll ask for another increase in next year’s budget cycle, which begins this summer.
State regulators rejected a similar 9% midyear request from Rutland Regional Medical Center, but signaled they would consider significant price increases for the hospital during budget season.
The regulators noted that other hospitals would probably ask for significant budget bumps for similar reasons.
For now, it appears that raising service charges is the only way out for hospitals. A $10 billion Covid aid bill that’s working its way through Congress is deadlocked over an immigration policy argument.
In a letter to the care board earlier this month, Agency of Human Services Secretary Jenney Samuelson hinted the state has no plans for additional Covid aid for hospitals at this time.
What it means is that some Vermonters are going to pay for Covid in more ways than one — through tax money hospitals already received and ballooning health insurance premiums in the coming year.
