As a strong supporter of the original Act 48 for universal health care in Vermont, I agree with the letter signed by all of the leading advocates of health care reform which was addressed about not supporting S. 211.
The Green Mountain Care Board has been a way for the public to address the needs of those of us who previously had no voice at all in what and how health care is provided and paid for in Vermont. It has been quite obvious to many of us, who are merely “patients, constituents” who see what is happening to not only the exceedingly high costs of health care but also the quality of that care, that by having everything controlled by the University of Vermont Healthcare consortium, has only brought us much worse results. I am quite pleased with the new GMCB members’ decisions.
How can we have an accountable care organization, OneCare Vermont, that is part and parcel of the UVM Health Network? I believe that the whole reason the GMCB was implemented was so that Vermonters knew that it is not the governor, the administration, not the legislature, nor the hospitals, what some call the “medical industrial complex” who are responsible for health care oversight in the state of Vermont.
If anyone needs more funding, it is the GMCB, to do the kind of work that Vermonters expect to be done to protect and promote consumer interests, and to incentivize doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals to move to Vermont. As long as wealthy administrators take much of the funding for health care, providers are being shut out of the decision-making both at the oversight level and the patient care level. S. 211 has to go!
Mary Alice Bisbee
Montpelier
