MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – Vermont health care is on the edge of crisis and action needs to be taken now– that’s according to a new report calling on lawmakers and the state to find ways to make health care affordable in the face of spiraling costs.
After two years of community surveys, meetings and gathering data, consultants on Wednesday painted a picture of a health care system in a rural state with a declining demographic in crisis.
Cascading health care costs are causing insurance premiums to outpace median household income and causing families to skip out on care altogether.
“Most hospitals are financially unsustainable and we project by 2028, 13 of the 14 will report even more significant financial losses,” said Bruce Hamory of Oliver Wyman Consulting.
It was the bankruptcy of Springfield Hospital five years ago that got the ball rolling on a hard conversation on avoiding future facility closures and trying to find ways to make health care affordable for you and your family.
In a major 140-page report issued Wednesday, consultants say state lawmakers need to make housing their number one priority in order to recruit more health care providers and bring more young people to Vermont.
They also say hospitals may need to eliminate beds, and consolidate services at Gifford Medical Center, Grace Cottage, Springfield and North Country hospitals, creating so-called centers of excellence, regional hubs where people can seek specialized services.
“Hospitals will need to reconfigure their services and the sites where they deliver them so more is done away from the inpatient units of the hospital,” Hamory said.
This has hospitals urging state officials to proceed with caution as they say they are also economic hubs.
“We’re going to be looking at making sure we do no harm to patients,” said Mike Del Trecco of the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems.
Del Trecco represents hospitals at the Statehouse and says any decisions should avoid making care more difficult or more expensive to access.
“This is too important to get wrong,” he said. “This is about our friends, families and neighbors and the vitality of our communities.”
As health care access and affordability reach a crossroads, difficult decisions are ahead.
Gov. Phil Scott compares our health care problems to our school funding and property tax issues, saying disciplined spending and consolidation will play roles.
“There’s a bottom line: we can’t afford everything. We need to be smarter and more efficient in the way we produce services,” said Scott, R-Vermont.
This is just one more issue on state lawmakers’ plates, from a big vote on the Clean Heat Standard to education property tax reform, state lawmakers will have a ton of work ahead.