The big question about our healthcare system

Dear Editor,

Blue Cross’s Vermont Health Connect premiums have risen by over 90 percent during the last nine years.  This year Blue Cross and MVP are asking for double digit increases.

 Is this sustainable?

In reviewing a book calling for a total overhaul of the U.S. health insurance system, MIT’s Peter Dizikes noted that, “Americans have $140 billion in unpaid medical debt, more than all other personal debt combined, and three-fifths of it is incurred by people with health insurance.” 

Is this sustainable?

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget reported that Medicare Advantage plans could be overpaid by the financially strapped Medicare Trust Fund by as much as $1.6 trillion over the next decade.Is this sustainable?

Insurance companies rake in huge profits to the detriment of each of us because we treat health care as a commodity or a privilege. We need a system that benefits the people who need health care, not insurance companies. 

Over 100 sponsors, including all three members of Vermont’s federal delegation, reintroduced Medicare for All back in the spring.  According to the Congressional Budget Office, Medicare for All would save $650 billion each year while providing care for all of us.  It would provide comprehensive health care coverage to all — including primary care, vision, dental, prescription drugs, mental health, substance use disorder, long-term services and supports, reproductive health care, and more– with no out-of-pocket expenses, insurance premiums, deductibles, or co-payments.

It’s the streamlined and cost-effective system we need.

Charlie Murphy, 

Bennington