More than anyone else, the large insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and health care providers, got the lions share of the Health Care dollar from the Vermont Government. When costs to the state went up, Doctors got paid less, patients were being hit with greater out of pocet expenses, and the big players got everything else, Dean never tried to control costs , but let the corporate agents in the process drain the state coffers.
Health Care
Howard Dean gives passionate speeches about universal health care as a moral imperative, not just a policy initiative. Maybe, somewhere deep in his heart, he really believes that people have a right to good health care. But we sure aren't going to get there following the path he took in Vermont: tiny increments -- adding insurance coverage for kids in moderate income families one year, cutting back their benefits and increasing their co-pays and premiums the next. Adding a prescription drug benefit for low-income seniors, then cutting many of the most commonly used new drugs out of the formulary and forcing seniors back onto older medications with more side effects. His national proposal is similar--not really universal: it would extend Medicaid to people under 25, add a little prescription drug coverage to Medicare, tinker with this, adjust that, don't do anything to upset the insurance companies or big Pharmaceuticals. Then, when the bill gets big, he would make the cutbacks in the same incremental fashion. For example, began by defunding eyeglasses for kids here, dentures for seniors there. You know, just a few cuts; after all, everyone has to do his share.
http://www.counterpunch.org/jacobs08292003.htmlGovernor’s Budget Cuts Medicaid Programs
Governor Howard Dean, in his eleventh and last budget address, cut several Medicaid programs including prescription drugs, dental care and vision services. Dean told lawmakers times a tough and sacrifices had to be made.
The Dean budget for FY 2003 is $891 million in state spending, one percent more than the state expects to spend this fiscal year but nearly 3% less than the budget passed last year ($916 million). Revenues this year are expected to be $50 million below budget. Dean wants to use the "Rainy Day" fund to cover some of the $50 million shortfall but does not want to tap that fund for FY 2003. Next year’s budget is based on revenue estimates of $893 million.
If passed as presented, Dean’s budget would:
Eliminate the VScript Expanded Program.
Reduce the Vermont Health Access Plan pharmacy benefit.
Increase the co-pay up to $750/year for medicines under both the VScript and VHAP pharmacy programs. (Those eligible now pay only a few dollars for each filled prescription).
Eliminate the Medicaid dentures, chiropractic and podiatry programs.
Reduce the adult dental programs (cover pain and suffering only, not preventative care).
Add a 50% co-pay to adult vision programs.
Add a $250 co-pay per admission to VHAP inpatient hospital benefit.
Reduce the hospital outpatient payment by 10%.
Establish a hospital outpatient co-pay of $25.
These cuts would save about $27 million, $11 million in state money. Few advocates for the elderly are happy with the budget and have vowed to restore the money lost to these programs. A coalition of over a dozen advocacy groups held a rally and press conference at the Capitol building to denounce the budget cuts.
http://vnavt.com/vahhavoicewinter2002.htmGovernor's Bipartisan Commission
On Health Care Availability & Affordability
Final Report
I. Authority, Scope
A. On January 24, 2001, Governor Howard Dean issued an executive order establishing a Special Governor's Bipartisan Commission on Health Care Availability and Affordability.
C. Health care costs in Vermont, now exceeding $2 billion a year, are of a sufficient magnitude, however, and are increasing at a sufficient rate to place state government itself in jeopardy, including every program for which it appropriates money. By comparison, Vermonters budgeted $1.8 billion for all state government services in FY 2001 (not including federal funds).3
We are rapidly approaching the point at which these costs will directly conflict with our ability to do such things as to maintain roads and bridges, for example, or to provide cost-effective services to our infants and children, to promote agriculture and tourism, or to provide any other services our citizens have come to expect.
D. We do not have a health care system in Vermont.4 That means:
1. No one is in control.
2. No one is responsible for ensuring that high-quality medical care is adequate for the needs of the public.
3. No one ensures that medical charges are appropriate or that they are paid in full.5
4. There is a "disconnect" between the consumer receiving health care and the entity paying the bill. Consumers are shielded from the cost of the service.
5. There is no global budgeting or targeted growth planning for health care in Vermont.
6. There is little in the way of public accountability for the performance of health care institutions, or for their long-term planning.
7. Although administrative costs, including those associated with government paperwork burdens, have reached an unacceptable level, no one has been able to do anything about it.
http://216.239.37.100/search?q=cache:aC9QzqwOEmkJ:www.state.vt.us/health/commission/docs/report/mainreport.doc+%22Howard+Dean%22+%22Incentive+Plan+for+Medicaid%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8Deans experince as a Wall Street investment banker, and the fact that from his earliest political days, his advisors havebeen conservative Wall Street Stock Brokers and investment bankers are the clearest indications of where Dean intends all of the health care dollar in America to end up, As profits for people who are already too wealthy.
To the dismay of liberals in the Legislature who wanted to expand social and environmental programs, Dr. Dean and his chief economic adviser, Harlan Sylvester, a conservative stockbroker and investment banker, stuck with the Snelling budget-cutting plan. Helped by a booming economy, the state's finances improved sharply.
http://www.politicalpunk.com/~politica/politicalpunkfordeanarchive/000129.php
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