BRATTLEBORO — Between 2003 and 2009, the cost of premiums across the range of employer-based health plans in Vermont increased from 32 percent to 54 percent. And as a percentage of median income, these premiums went from 15 percent to 18 percent for single people, and from 14 percent to 19 percent for families.
Most school districts spend well over 20 percent of their salary budgets on health insurance. Deductibles for employed single people increased 2½ times (more than 148 percent), and doubled (by a factor of more than 112 percent) for families with employerbased insurance.
That's a lot of money, and that is cutting a lot of people and businesses out of the market. Does anyone truly believe we can go on like this?
As the process of developing a universal health care system for Vermont moves along in the Statehouse, it has become more and more clear that we can't keep up with the costs of health care if we don't remove unnecessary administrative costs and profits and turn the system toward preventing illness rather than just treating it.
The insurance company approach to controlling costs is to raise co-pays and deductibles, causing people to postpone treatment until they are so sick that it costs more to treat them, and they miss work.
I have been listening to testimony from Vermonters with all kinds of interests and perspectives and watching the committees consider, question, and wrestle with all the issues people care about. Our elected representatives are engaged in a balanced and thoughtful process - one that will likely result in a workable system.
Calls for them to define the benefits package, or to decide where the funding will come from, are premature. This process has to be done right if we are going to be able to have a universal system that is transparent - one that promotes behaviors and policies that can truly reduce health care spending.