No one struggling to pay rent can meet a $12,000 deductible

[erronis]

https://vtdigger.org/2026/07/14/opinon-no-one-struggling-to-pay-rent-can-meet-a-12000-deductible/
Walt Carpenter

The people designing health insurance plans have lost touch with a basic fact: For many Vermonters, healthcare is a luxury they can't afford.

Walt Carpenter has been a long-time advocate for healthcare reform in Vermont. His messages ring true across this country.

I was glad to see that Blue Cross Blue Shield canceled its proposed "Vermont Basic" health plans. The debate over this proposal showed just how completely disconnected the people designing these plans and our healthcare system have become from the lives of ordinary Vermonters.

To call a plan with an $11,800 deductible before the insurance would bother to kick in an "affordable option" exists only in a policy fantasy bubble. An individual or a family struggling to pay rent, buy groceries and keep up with utility bills in our very high-cost, low-wage society doesn't suddenly gain access to healthcare just because their monthly premium might drop by a few dollars. They simply trade one unaffordable bill for another.

When people face deductibles this large, they don't shop for healthcare -- another abomination of our high-cost culture -- they avoid it altogether. They skip doctor's visits, delay tests and ration medications until a minor problem becomes a medical crisis. That isn't insurance. It's medical roulette.

. . .

Too many healthcare decisions are made by people who never have to choose between paying the rent or seeing a doctor. Vermonters need affordable access to care through a universal publicly funded system, not the illusion of affordability created by lower premiums paired with crushing deductibles.

Until our policymakers and our so-called business leaders stop living inside this fantasy bubble and start listening to the people forced to live with these plans, healthcare will always look affordable in the executive suites and completely out of reach in real life.

[pfitz59]

1. 'deductibles' 'copays' 'caps' all suck

we are being fleeced

[MichMan]

5. Standard Medicare has deductibles & copays

I guess it sucks too.

[VBNMW_Realist]

2. Capitalism Is Failing

This is why people feel they are getting poorer. The capital does not go to the middle class. And even though white privilege is real, whites are being hit by the terrible economy as well almost as hard.

Also even though this may never happen, Vermont needs to ditch Phil Scott and get on the Vote Blue No Matter Who train like I am because ALL Republicans serve the capitalist price gouging class. He actually vetoed the minimum wage increases and if you work minimum wage in Vermont, you should thank him for the low wage.

[Bumbles]

3. The wealthiest, greatest country - right?

Best Countries for Healthcare 2026 - Top 30 countries ranked by life expectancy, infant mortality, and healthcare infrastructure.

https://www.worldcountrydata.com/en/best/healthcare

Our wealthiest, greatest country doesn't make the cut.

[erronis]

9. Thanks - a very informative chart.

A lot of the top countries are also havens for foreign capital, but many of the others are Scandinavian and countries that have embraced socialist welfare.

[MichMan]

4. What happened to the state run single payer system that Vermont was proposing a few years ago?

[erronis]

6. The up-front cost for implementing it scared off the politicians. Even tho it would have saved money.

No one likes to tell their constituents that they will have to pony up thousands more in the near term, even if it will leave more money in their pockets in the future years. Short term short-sightedness.

Except if it is a new ball stadium. Then there'll be state-funded publicity, bonds issued, tax relief for the developers, etc.

Edited to add the most important part:
The insurers (Blue Cross/Blue Shield and MVP, mainly) were dead set against it. Big $$$s.

[elliesmandt]

7. And not just Vermont!

All Americans should be entitled to receive the same quality of health care as do those individuals who we elect to represent us, and at a reasonable price.

[ahnakneemoose]

8. Yes, this is today

No shopping for healthcare
No healthcare unless by cash
No doctor's visits unless emergency
No tests unless can pay by cash only
No medications unless pay by cash only

Now, this isn't insurance - it's medical roulette