VHC911 Releases Data Showing UVMMC Profit from Commercial Insurance Ballooned in 2023

BURLINGTON, VT - Several healthcare institutions in Vermont are struggling to stay afloat while one major player enjoys record profits. According to a new coalition called VT Healthcare 911 (VHC911), in 2023 the University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC) saw their profits from commercial insurance soar to over $800 million.

Chris Pearson, a former Chittenden County State Senator who chairs the organization, called the profits "eye-popping" and said the group spent a few weeks examining and re-examining the data since it seemed so hard to believe. According to VHC911, these profits go a long way to explain why Vermont has the most expensive health insurance premiums in the country.

"What concerns me," said former Gov. Jim Douglas who co-chairs VHC911's Leadership Council, "Is that our only in-state insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield, is on the ropes at the same time when the health center is seeing profits hit record highs." Pearson and Douglas don't agree on much but say they were drawn to work together to help Vermont tackle the affordability crisis in healthcare. Since late January, VHC911 has been using public data to compare Vermont hospitals to peers around New England and the country.

On the measure of profit from commercial insurance, both Dartmouth Hitchcock and the Albany Medical Center saw profits in the $220 - $350 million range in 2023. Looking more broadly to over 100 Academic Medical Centers in the US, VHC911 says the 2023 profits at UVMMC were the 11th highest.

Lisa Ventriss was the longtime head of the Vermont Business Roundtable and now serves alongside Douglas as co-chair of VHC911's Leadership Council. "Our businesses are paying the highest health premiums in the country, by a lot. We cannot keep this up. It is time for UVMMC leadership to work with their board and state regulators to bring costs under control."

The good news, says Ventriss, is there are many examples around the country where big health systems like UVMMC and the University of Vermont Health Network which owns UVMMC and five other hospitals in Vermont and New York, have reduced costs and actually improved patient care. "We can do this," said Ventriss, "we have to."

VHC911's newsletter can be read & downloaded here.

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