GMCB Springfield Meeting
The Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB) will hold a special public meeting in Springfield on Thursday, May 1. The meeting is scheduled from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Hartness House Inn at 30 Orchard St.
The GMCB is an independent state agency charged with regulating Vermont’s health system, evaluating the health and financial impacts of health reform, promoting innovations to make health care affordable and improve Vermonters’ health. Several Springfield-area health leaders are scheduled to speak about the area’s health needs:
- Timothy Ford, President & CEO of Springfield Medical Care Systems;
- Jeanne McLaughlin, President & CEO of the Visiting Nurse Association & Hospice of Vermont and New Hampshire.
- George Karabakakis, CEO, and Judith Hayward, CEO Emeritus of Health Care & Rehabilitation Services.
This event is an extension of the GMCB’s regular meetings, held Thursdays in Montpelier. As with all GMCB meetings, the agenda will include time for community members to comment on the topics covered in the meeting. The GMCB encourages Springfield-area residents to provide input on the board’s work, which includes:
- Regulating hospital budgets, major capital expenses, and health insurer rates;
- Innovating new ways to pay for and deliver health care to encourage efficiency, quality, and affordability in Vermont’s health care system; and
- Evaluating the impact of health reform on Vermonters’ health as well as the state’s economy and its health care workforce.
“Vermont’s Legislature created the GMCB with transparency and public involvement in mind,” said Al Gobeille Chair of the GMCB. “So we think it’s important to get out of Montpelier whenever we can, whether it’s individual Board and staff members speaking with groups around the state or taking a whole meeting on the road. We hope people in the Springfield area will show up and see for themselves what’s happening in Vermont’s health system reform.”
For more information on the meeting, call the Green Mountain Care Board at 802.828.2177 or GMCB.Board@state.vt.us
“Vermont’s Legislature created the GMCB with transparency and public involvement in mind,” said Al Gobeille Chair of the GMCB. “So we think it’s important to get out of Montpelier whenever we can..."
ReplyDeleteAnd avoid work, collect a little per diem, and enjoy a nice meal at the taxpayers' expense.
More bumbling bureaucrats trying to justify their existence.
Anybody who knows anybody who has suffered for lack of affordable health care is in a position to appreciate what Green Mountain Care intends to have in place January 1, 2017: Immediate, affordable treatment by your doctor or the emergency room for a condition that left untreated would cripple or kill you. Medical care that is there for you when you have to quite or get fired from your job because you're too sick to work any more. Doctors who don't have to justify their decisions to an insurance company. Employers who benefit from not losing employees to companies that can afford to offer health insurance. Employers who benefit from the increased productivity of healthier workers.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with our attempt to do this is that insurance companies hate us. They are already sending in the attack troops. The Media Research Center has already moved one "journalist" into Vermont with the job of spreading fear, uncertainty and distrust-- "f-u-d"-- among the uninformed. Come January 1st, they're going to bring in "the guys in the fancy shoes"-- the big lobbyists.
It will not be at all surprising to have a few fudflingers show up at the Hartness House.
Looks like there are a few amateur fudflingers among the anonymous 'commenters'.
DeleteI wonder how much this meeting cost the tax payers? Hey ...pick the most expensive place to hold a meeting that few care about. I wonder who benefited financially here cuz it wasn't the tax payers. These clowns ever here of Skype or similar technology? Another pork-laden conference enjoyed by those in power at the expense of their minions.Let them eat cake?
ReplyDeleteIf few care about it, it's because they're not policy wonks. The fact is, Green Mountain Care has the potential to change health care coverage for every state in the nation-- Tommy Douglas, the Saskatchewan prime minister who introduced universal health coverage to Canada, is the most famous man in Canadian history-- even more famous than Wayne Gretzke.
DeleteImagine having a health care policy that stays with you even when you lose your job because you're too sick to work-- as happened to Heather Loughlin of Ludlow years ago, and she went through years of hell before getting horrendous expenses covered again. Imagine not having to worry about your spouse getting treated as well as you are for the same illness, simply because each of you is covered by a different company. And imagine your doctor not having to overprescribe tests for you in order to generate more money for the hospital.
You can be sure the people who don't want to see Green Mountain Care succeed will show up and do what they can to fling fear, uncertainty and doubt-- fud-- at the hearing. People who want better health care coverage need to be there.
Skype and Interactive TV are poor seconds to face-to-face in a state where we have always valued human interaction on matters of great import.
Ah Chuck. Your dream of "free" healthcare for all lacks the one thing you seem to forget; money! Vermont has an approximate annual total revenue stream(called taxes) of 2.7 billion per year. Vermont estimates a need to raise an additional 2 billion annually to fund their planned healthcare giveaway. Where do you think that ginormous amount of moola will come from? Your rich Uncle Sam? Stop living in the Twilight Zone and join reality.
DeleteThis is a boondoggle and if you think I am paying another cent in taxes you are nuts. Between property taxes and income taxes I am being squeezed to the tune of nearly 20k and that is just VT. I'd be gone if I could get anything for real estate around here.
ReplyDelete