Health Care Costs in Vermont Continue to Soar
The Community Health Centers of Burlington recorded 165,000 patient visits last year, 35,000 more than five years ago. One out of every 10 visits now requires translation services, and hundreds of checkups are performed not in a doctor's office but on the streets, in the woods and wherever else backpack-carrying providers can find patients of an increasingly needed homeless outreach program. CEO Jeffrey McKee and his staff have never worked harder. Yet the center is quickly going broke, unable to cover growing expenses — starting with the cost of its own workers' health care.
The Chittenden County provider is projecting a $2 million budget gap largely driven by rising health insurance costs. Next year, it will pay 55 percent more for plans than in 2022.
"We're losing about $300,000 a month," McKee said at a meeting with state officials and local health care leaders last month. "An organization our size cannot sustain that."
Similar conclusions are being reached all across Vermont — in hushed tones at dinner tables, behind closed doors at local businesses and during budget meetings at public schools. On this, there is no debate: Health care has become unaffordable and grows more so each year.