Vermont for Single Payer

01/08/2025

https://kentuckylantern.com/2025/01/03/its-time-to-turn-outrage-into-change-we-need-a-better-system-to-pay-for-health-care/

Getting Sick Isn’t a Choice, and Receiving the Necessary Care Shouldn’t Be a Luxury
“As a retired physician, I saw the shortcomings of our system regularly fail my patients and am well aware of the need for change. In fact, in 2021, I established The Asclepius Initiative (TAI), a nonprofit that works to communicate the need for a fairer and more just health care financing system.
“We believe that you and your family should have access to care when you need it, and your care should be affordable, regardless of where you live or work.
“Getting sick isn’t a choice, and receiving the necessary care shouldn’t be a luxury. Your medical care should be decided by you and your doctor, not a claims processor.
“Instead, our current system punishes those who are ill, frequently denying coverage and imposing billing nightmares. In 2021, 1.5 out of every 10 households held medical debt. Today, medical costs remain a leading cause of bankruptcy. “

Universal health care coverage is not a hope — it’s a necessity. Our health and economic future depend on it.

01/08/2025

Who says single payer saves money? Everybody who looks at the question...

01/07/2025

Average family health insurance cost was 30% of the median family income in 2023. Yes, "median" is different than "average," but come on....
Real median household income was $80,610 in 2023. [https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2024/demo/p60-282.html]
In 2023, the average cost of health insurance for a family of four was approximately $23,968 per year. [https://www.ehealthinsurance.com/resources/individual-and-family/average-family-health-insurance-cost #:~:text=In%202023%2C%20the%20average%20cost,plan%20type%2C%20and%20coverage%20options.]

$23,968 is 29.7% of $80,610.

This report presents data on income, earnings, & income inequality in the United States based on information collected in the 2024 and earlier CPS ASEC.

01/07/2025

https://apps.bostonglobe.com/metro/investigations/spotlight/2024/09/steward-hospitals/for-profit-health-care/
“Today, Steward is under scrutiny in several ways, including bankruptcy court, where the carcass of the company — $9 billion in debt — is being picked over. And in federal district court, where prosecutors are digging into allegations of financial mismanagement that hastened the company’s collapse.
“In Massachusetts, taxpayers are bracing for a $700 million bill to rescue several Steward hospitals, from the same government that permitted this to happen. A Steward spokeswoman said the company declined to comment.
“Early this year, the Globe Spotlight Team set out to examine what went wrong in this once-promising, Boston-born hospital chain. The scenes and revelations in this story are drawn from eight months of reporting and more than 100 interviews, including first-hand accounts from key Steward insiders who witnessed, and at times enabled, the company’s downfall. The account also relies on tens of thousands of internal company emails obtained by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and shared with the Globe.
“What’s emerged is a cautionary tale about letting a wannabe billionaire, a titan of private equity, and a real estate investment trust become stewards of a public necessity like health care. It is about how they took a business dedicated to serving patients, and by their own account, turned it into a business for finance and investing. And it is about how everyone, so far, has gotten away with it.”

An investigation into Steward Health Care reveals a cautionary tale about the role of private equity in American health care and the corporate push for profits — often at the expense of patients.

01/07/2025

01/06/2025

Let Vermonters Speak on Healthcare: We Call on the Legislature to Hold Open Hearings

01/06/2025

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/report-unitedhealth-chief-has-been-boasting-of-a-record-year/ar-AA1wLxxQ?rc=1&ocid=winp1taskbar&pc=oneClick&cvid=272e7bc87c324a5781513c0f9c0f10dc&ei=6
Per this article, UnitedHealth has 440,000 employees....that's more people than live in Oakland CA
“A large chunk of the 60-year-old leader's task, per the Journal, is to ‘ease the concerns of his company's anxious 440,000 employees following Thompson's assassination, and keep its complex business humming, while also responding to a wave of outrage over health-insurance practices since the killing.’"

Earlier this month, Andrew Witty, chief executive for UnitedHealth Group, penned an op-ed in the New York Times condemning the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Now, Witty himself is in the spotlight, thanks to a new profile in the Wall Street Journal that talks about how he's steering...

01/05/2025

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/unitedhealth-s-army-of-doctors-helped-it-collect-billions-more-from-medicare/ar-AA1wFNxO?rc=1&ocid=winp1taskbar&pc=oneClick&cvid=6b086b2b14934ea6edfc76913c8b6fbc&ei=8
“Like most doctors, Nicholas Jones prefers to diagnose patients after examining them. When he worked for UnitedHealth Group, though, the company frequently prepared him a checklist of potential diagnoses before he ever laid eyes on them.
“UnitedHealth only did that with the Eugene, Ore., family physician’s Medicare Advantage recipients, he said, and its software wouldn’t let him move on to his next patient until he weighed in on each diagnosis.
…
“Sickness scores for those UnitedHealth patients increased 55%, on average, in their first year in the plans, the analysis showed. That increase was roughly equivalent to every patient getting newly diagnosed with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and breast cancer, the analysis showed.”

The biggest Medicare Advantage insurer presented physicians with checklists of potential diagnose.; “I didn’t think I was obese,” one suspicious patient told his doctor.

01/04/2025

https://news.gallup.com/poll/646994/affording-healthcare-struggle-2022.aspx
Less Than Half of Adults Under 50 are Medical ”Cost Secure”
“Although adults aged 50 and older are more likely than those younger than 50 to be “cost secure” -- meaning they have had no recent problems affording care or medicine and can easily access care -- their scores have fallen faster and further over the past two years. The percentages of cost secure adults aged 50 to 64 and 65 and older have both dropped eight points since 2022, to 55% and 71%, respectively. At the same time, the percentage of younger adults has slipped five points, from 52% to 47%.”

The percentage of U.S. adults classified as "cost secure" has slipped to 55%, a new low. The biggest drop is among those aged 50 and older.

01/04/2025

https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/5057659-health-insurance-costs-us/?tbref=hp
Extremely Disingenuous
“But how much does health insurance actually cost us? According to the American Medical Association, it’s just 6 percent of health care spending.
“In other words, if insurers were to donate every cent of profit they made, your health care would become just 3 percent cheaper.”
?????????

This much is clear: simply siphoning taxpayer or insurer money to inflate wages will not alone solve our healthcare woes.

01/03/2025

01/03/2025

https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/6021396/medical-loans-market-report?utm_source=GNE&utm_medium=PressRelease&utm_code=q49l22&utm_campaign=2026201+-+Medical+Loans+Market+Poised+for+Exceptional+Growth%2c+Reaching+%24190.46+Billion+in+2024%2c+Driven+by+Rising+Healthcare+Costs+and+Increased+Consumer+Awareness+-+Long-term+Forecast+to+2028+and+2033&utm_exec=chdomsai
Personal Loans to Pay Medical Expenses—a “Growth” Field
“The medical loans market size has grown rapidly in recent years. It will grow from $171.95 billion in 2023 to $190.46 billion in 2024 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.8%. …The medical loans market size is expected to see rapid growth in the next few years. It will grow to $291.25 billion in 2028 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.2%.
“The projected growth during the forecast period can be attributed to several factors such as rising healthcare costs, increasing demand for elective surgeries, a growing prevalence of chronic diseases, a heightened need for emergency medical procedures, limited insurance coverage, and an aging population.
“Key trends anticipated include advances in medical technology, innovations in digital platforms and fintech, enhancements in digital lending platforms, and the integration of artificial intelligence for improved credit assessments.

“The rise in health insurance premiums is expected to drive the growth of the medical loans market.”

This report features 26 companies, including KeyCorp, Upstart Holdings, GreenSky LLC, Some of the major companies profiled in this Medical Loans market report include:

01/03/2025

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2024/12/27/utah-bateman-bionic-arm-gofundme/
“Remi said she tried using one of the robotic arms for a few days in Colorado and was thrilled to cut her food with a knife and fork for the first time and carry plates with two hands.
…
“On Oct. 1, the Batemans sent a prescription for the robotic arm and office notes from Remi’s pediatrician to Select Health for approval. One week later, their request was denied, Jami Bateman said.
“’They sent us a letter saying it was not medically necessary for Remi to have a Hero Arm and that it was for cosmetic use only,’ she said. ‘We appealed twice and were again denied.’
…
“When contacted by The Washington Post, a spokesperson for Select Health cited privacy laws and did not follow up on a request for comment about denying Remi’s claim.
“In mid-December, a frustrated Jami Bateman tried an approach she’d seen other people use when their health insurance failed them: She started a GoFundMe for her daughter, hoping to purchase a robotic arm through the kindness of strangers. It was a last-ditch effort and one she didn’t embark on lightly, saying that crowdfunding for medical needs is a game of chance and a sad reflection of how broken the American health-care system is.
“But she figured she didn’t have much to lose.
“Bateman was stunned when friends and strangers chipped in more than $30,000 in just a few days, surpassing the family’s $24,000 goal. People who donated understood the Batemans’ predicament, and many were furious on their behalf.”

“People shouldn’t have to have fundraisers to pay for something this important to a child’s health and well-being,” Jami Bateman, the child’s mother, said.

01/02/2025

Sign the petition calling for Vermont’s Governor and Legislature to hold open hearings to provide citizens of Vermont an opportunity to testify on their experiences with health care and what needs to be done to provide quality, affordable healthcare to all.

Let Vermonters Speak on Healthcare: We Call on the Legislature to Hold Open Hearings