Trump's footprint on Vermont health care

COMMENTARY

Our health care "system" in Vermont is teetering, while the actions - or lack of - from the current President might just push it over.

Vermonters are paying more and more and feeling they get less and less.

Access is limited, evidenced by the wait time many experiences to get an appointment. In some cases, there just aren't enough providers and many are overworked and stretched thin. In other instances, access is limited by what people can afford because of higher premiums, higher deductibles and higher copays. And now, there will be no offering of a Medicare Advantage plan that thousands of retired Vermonters used for accessing health care.

Add to the concerns, how 9 of our 14 hospitals are losing money.

And Vermont's largest health insurance company Blue Cross-Blue Shield had to borrow $30 million from Blue Cross Michigan to pay claims this spring. Along with that is another year of high increases for premiums that strain budgets at every level - home, businesses and government. A crisis point might be coming sooner than later as pointed out by the head of the Green Mountain Care Board in testimony to the Vermont Legislature. He shared how last year, he predicted that in five years, we might see hospitals close in Vermont. He now feels it could be within one year. Legislators will be working hard in the coming session to make sure that doesn't happen, but we are a small state with limited resources. We are one of those states that get more back from DC than we pay out (thanks to our able Congressional delegation). But we really need a willing partner in Washington, and that seems unlikely.

Unlikely because the current President seems more concerned with his revenge and vengeance campaign and unleashing masked, armed hordes of his private army on our streets. That is higher epriority than to fulfill his campaign promise that "prices will come down on Day 1." Far from it.

As prices continue to rise across the board, little has been done to bring down the cost of living - to address the "Affordability Crisis" as the current President and his allies like to refer to.

And high prices could go up higher for health care very soon. Without the tax credits for the Affordable Care Act, premiums will skyrocket, making health insurance unaffordable for millions of Americans - thousands of them in Vermont. Those notices will go out in November so be prepared if you get your health insurance through the health care exchange.

Then in the new year, the Federal Big Bad Budget Bill will kick scores of Americans off of Medicaid.

The ripples from these events will be broad.

Health needs will continue and that's where the uninsured will start showing up in higher numbers at emergency departments, where hospitals are obliged by law to treat them. These unfunded costs will have to be borne by hospitals that as noted earlier, are already teetering.

If we see any economic downturn, lower tax revenues, and greater pressures on services, that's a recipe for higher state and property taxes or cuts to state services. Not a pretty picture but a possible scenario we cannot ignore. (And for those who voted for the current President, especially grain farmers, a stark reminder of getting what you voted for.)

We can hope for the best but the road ahead looks like a dirt road in mud season. With ruts that are hard to get out of, without the help of a tow. Will we get a tow from Washington, especially regarding health care?

It's understandable if some don't see this as a major problem right now, especially if you're healthy and not currently needing health care. Until you're like that guy who saw something thrown and wondered what it was. Then it hit him.

Here's hoping the Democrats in Congress hold fast to get a deal on health care during the shutdown. We need an agreement that will resonate right down to the state and local level for the help that health care in Vermont needs.

State Rep. Mike Mrowicki, D, serves the Windham 4 District towns of Putney and Dummerston. The opinions expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of Vermont News & Media.