Raise a Ruckus

You have been very clear over the past few years that the spiraling cost of health insurance for employees is a burden that is now too heavy to bear.  Through an affiliation with Vermont Health Services Group, VBSR can now offer group health plans at competitive premiums so you won't have to maintain membership in other business associations just to access better insurance rates.  But competitive rates are not affordable rates and the cost spirals continue to soar. 

The most hopeful aspect of the current policy debates is the link that has been established between a functional health care system and economic recovery.  The debate is just as much about improving quality and expanding access as it is about controlling costs.  It's about investing in human capital as an economic imperative.  Several reform initiatives are underway in Vermont.  None of them will move forward unless Vermont businesses continually emphasize the importance of health care reform to the health of your business.  We will keep you posted on opportunities to participate in these discussions.

S88 and H100 will be considered in the upcoming session. They call for the creation of a single payer health care system in Vermont funded with "broad- based taxes".  The Health Care Reform Commission will be evaluating the success of Catamount Health and whether it achieved the stated goals for reduction in the number of uninsured Vermonters.  Other initiatives are expected including insurance mandates, caps on hospital budgets, and public   financing.

Senator Sanders is sponsoring federal legislation that will grant Vermont waivers from Medicaid, Medicare and Erisa regulations in order to finance a Vermont solution to the health care crisis.

The federal reform legislation passed by the House would make substantive changes in our health care system but it would not go into effect until 2014 and the reforms would have slow and minimal impact Vermont.

Our best hopes are the Vermont solutions.  In the coming months, Vermont businesses need to raise a ruckus about the unbearable burden that our health care system has become.

Will Patten
Executive Director
Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility
willp@vbsr.org
802.862.8347