It's the economy, stupid," is a catchphrase coined by James Carville, former President Bill Clinton's political strategist, for his 1992 presidential campaign.
In Vermont, it’s the health care, stupid. Health care costs in Vermont are the highest in the nation. Right now, many of us are dealing with the impacts of the Trump administration’s Big Beautiful Bill which terminated enhanced federal tax credits for health care.
The federal subsidies to Obama-care that were passed during the COVID-19 pandemic expire at the end of this year. The federal government is currently shut down due to an impasse over whether federal subsidies should be extended another year or two or three or five. That’s one part of health care and how it impacts those forced into the state’s exchange.
And then there are state employees whose health care is funded by the state, but not through the state’s health care exchange – which is simply stupid. Adding that many more people to the exchange would deepen the pool and presumably lower the cost. Former Governor Peter Shumlin promised us everyone would be in the pool when Vermont created the exchange, but that has not happened.
Then there’s those who are insured through their employer. Those employers are facing similar high single-digit increases and many two-digit increases. How this shakes out is that either your employer can pass on more costs to you, or cover those costs and reduce your cost of living increase. That’s the blood from a stone theory.
And here comes the intersection of property taxes and education costs. The state is working on grandiose plans to reduce the number of school districts in Vermont to a dozen or so. This work promises greater efficiency, scale, outcomes, etc. But it does absolutely nothing to address the role that health care for educators plays in the ever-increasing cost of education.
Those who build our education budgets work with super sharp pencils and craft budgets that barely cover rising utility costs, do not cover basic maintenance, supplies and barely cover staffing. It’s not the cost of supplies or maintenance that is causing education budgets to go up, it is health care. Look at the cost drivers for local increases over the last five, 10 years.
Education is not the issue, health care costs are the issue.
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