Green Mountain Care is a universal health care program that will provide every Vermont resident with coverage for and access to high-quality, essential health services through a single payment system. It will take us a few years to get there, but H.202 is a bold and necessary step towards this goal. It includes clear goals, a strategic plan, and specific roadmap to get us from our current broken system to one that is universal, reliable, and patient-centered.
Here are 5 key reasons we need your support for the passage of H.202 this year:
- It controls costs and helps make health care more affordable for everyone
Costs are too high in our current system. Too many Vermonters can’t afford the care they need, state coffers are running dry, and businesses are struggling under the weight of rising premiums.With Green Mountain Care, we’ll be able to see how much we’re really paying and where our money goes – something which is nearly impossible now. It will bring an end to closed-door price negotiations, back room deals, and hidden costs, while strengthening our ability to reduce fraud and administrative waste. It also means that doctors and hospitals will have more time to spend with you and that patients can get treatment for small problems when they start, rather than needing costly emergency care for things that could have been prevented.
- It puts patients in the driver’s seat, strengthening patient access, control and choice.
Green Mountain Care will put an end to rationing, limits to patient choice, and coverage denials by insurance company bureaucrats. It is a bold step forward in taking the profits out of health care and putting medical decisions back in the hands of you and your doctor. Workforce investments will help make sure that every Vermonter can choose a primary care doctor, get access to preventative services, and manage their chronic conditions. - It simplifies our system so that it is efficient, transparent, and accountable to the Vermonters it serves.
The new system will take the politics out of health care decision-making and put it in the hands of an independent governing board. Our leaders heard you and have added many opportunities for public input throughout the design and implementation of Green Mountain Care. Highlights include the creation of a consumer advisory board, mandatory public input into decisions about benefit packages, and periodic evaluation of patient satisfaction, access and health outcomes. In the transition to Green Mountain Care, private insurance companies will have to justify proposed rate increases to the public and you will have the chance to weigh in before state regulators can make a decision about whether to approve them. - It is fair – everyone pays in and everyone benefits, ensuring that all Vermonters have access to the care that they need.
No more arguing with your insurance company over what they will and won’t cover. Green Mountain Care will make sure every Vermont resident is covered for primary, preventative, and chronic care, as well as urgent care and hospital services. This will help your family stay healthy, keep you from being stuck in a dead-end job just to get benefits, and strengthen our state’s economy. - It’s the right thing to do.
How we respond to hard times is a test of who we are as people and Vermonters have a long history of working together, caring for each other, and building strong communities. For more than 25% of Vermont residents, one major illness could cause them to lose everything, including their home. It’s time for us to take matters into our own hands and build the first universal health care system in the nation that serves the interests of people, not profits.