Vermont

Sen. Sanders raises alarm on cost of health care in Vermont and nationwide – VTDigger

Published

7 months ago

on

May 19, 2025

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Press Room

Sen. Sanders raises alarm on cost of health care in Vermont and nationwide – VTDigger

Two favorite photos: Senator Bernie Sanders held a press conference alongside Vermont healthcare leaders on May 19 to advocate for programs and policy to make healthcare more affordable in the state. Photo by Olivia Gieger/VTDigger

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., joined a group of state legislators, health care officials and advocates in Burlington Monday morning to raise the alarm on what they called Vermont’s health care affordability crisis.

“Everyone knows that our health care system, nationally and in the state of Vermont, is broken. It is dysfunctional, and it is wildly expensive,” Sanders said.

The press conference at Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport was set against the backdrop of Congress’s attempts to push through a mega spending bill that is expected to include work requirements for Medicaid recipients and limit the extent to which state governments can use health care provider taxes to cover their portion of Medicaid funding.

Back at home, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont sits in financial jeopardy, having lost $152 million over the past three years. The nonprofit insurer has asked the Green Mountain Care Board to approve double-digit percentage increases to the premiums of plans sold in 2026 on the Vermont Health Connect — the state-run federal Affordable Care Act marketplace.

“I’m not sure how anybody is going to be able to afford that,” Sanders said.

While he did not touch on the specifics of how the state or federal governments can support the state’s only Vermont-based health insurer and protect it from insolvency, Sanders outlined areas where he thinks further investment can lead to lower health care costs for Vermont in the long term. Those included expansions of primary health care facilities and of nursing education programs that allow the state to rely less on traveling nurses, as well as increased support for home health care and nursing homes. He cited efforts to reduce the cost of prescription drugs as a key area that can lower costs for hospitals, and thus, reduce the costs that get passed onto insurers and individuals.

All of this falls under a need for a broader cultural change, Sanders said, from a health care system that is focused on profit to one that supports health care as a human right.