The signatories to this commentary are listed below the text.
Senate bill S.211 is an attempt by the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems to free hospitals from appropriate and thoughtful budgetary regulation by the Green Mountain Care Board.
The bill, if enacted, will be an enormous benefit to the Hospital Association’s dominant member, the UVM Health Network. But it will impose greater medical and financial hardships on Vermonters.
Over the past decade, the UVM Health Network has acquired smaller hospitals and practices under the guise of improving care coordination and pirated community-based primary care providers. At the same time, health insurance costs have skyrocketed, primary care doctors, mental health counselors, nurses, and other community-based caregivers have suffered and the number of Vermonters who cannot afford medical care or prescriptions without the risk of incurring debt has increased substantially.
The UVM Health Network leverages its increased market dominance to demand exorbitant price hikes. In fact, UVM’s price increases are among the highest in the United States. Consequently, commercial insurers charge higher premiums to all Vermonters, regardless of whether they receive care at a UVM facility.
The Green Mountain Care Board, composed of five health care experts and regulators appointed by the governor after a bipartisan vetting process, is charged with serving Vermonters transparently and fairly while adhering to strict open meeting laws. The board’s regulatory mission is to improve the health and well-being of Vermonters in accordance with three core measures: affordability, access, and quality. It is also committed to making sure hospitals and providers have the financial support they need.
In 2023, the Green Mountain Care Board imposed reasonable limits on hospital charges during their upcoming budget cycle. In response, the UVM Health Network and the Hospital Association lobbied senators to create S.211, which would, in effect, move many of the board’s regulatory duties to the Agency of Human Services, where a single, politically appointed person, the Director of Health Care Reform, would handle regulatory work.
This change would diminish the Green Mountain Care Board’s authority and sidestep Vermont’s open meeting law. The Hospital Association and the UVM Health Network could then direct all their lobbying efforts toward this single individual who could be replaced every two years.
Vermonters cannot let the UVM Health Network’s monopoly power increase further with this proposed change, nor allow it to weaken public regulation over hospital operations and costs.
Despite increasing prices, the UVM Health Network has failed to provide better care for the people of Vermont. Care coordination is still poor, access to care is even worse, and the quality of care is declining. Many Vermont families have a story of long waits for appointments, poor outcomes, poor services and huge debt after receiving treatment at one of their facilities.
Legislators, business leaders, and all Vermonters must be aware of the risks if S.211 were to pass. It’s a bill designed to ensure that UVM Health Network gets what it wants. It will further enrich its leadership while seriously undermining the health and finances of Vermonters.
Tell your legislators not to weaken the Green Mountain Care Board, but to protect and strengthen it.
Tell them to say “no” to S.211.
Signatories:
Don Tinney, President, Vermont-NEA
Aimee Towne, President, Vermont State Employees Association
Cindy Chornyak, Co-Chairperson, VSEA Benefits Advisory Committee
Deb Snell, RN CCRN, President, Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals
Dan Drish, President, Brattleboro Federation of Nurses, AFT-VT Local 5064
Heather Bauman, President, UVMMC Support Staff United, AFT-VT Local 5223
Patrick Flood, former Deputy Secretary of the Agency of Human Services
Julie Wasserman, MPH
Sarah Launderville, Executive Director, Vermont Center for Independent Living
Tom Hamilton, Executive Director, Vermont Statewide Independent Living Council
Kirsten Murphy, Executive Director, Vermont Developmental Disabilities Council
Mollie Wills, Director of Grassroots Organizing, Rural Vermont
Kate Kanelstein and Avery Book, Executive Director and President, Vermont Workers’ Center
Max Barrows, Outreach Director, Green Mountain Self-Advocates
Sue Racanelli, President, League of Women Voters of Vermont
Craig Jones, MD, Capitol Health Associates, and former Executive Director of the Vermont Blueprint for Health
Betty J. Keller, MD and President, Vermont Physicians for a National Health Program
Deborah Richter, MD, Family Physician
Jack Mayer, MD, MPH Rainbow Pediatrics (Ret.)
David Schneider, DO, MS-Health Care Transformation, FAAP Pediatrician
Ellen Oxfeld, Vermont Health Care for All
Walter Carpenter, Vermont Health Care for All and Green Mountain Care Board Advisory Committee
Kathy Callaghan, Former Benefits Director, State of Vermont
Ethan Parke, Universal Health Care Advocate
William M. Young, former Commissioner of Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services
Laura Zakaras, PhD., RAND Corporation (Ret.)
