No financing system for health care is sustainable unless costs can be controlled. Why does health care cost so much?

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Driving the Costs

In years of studying Vermont's health care systems, legislative experts have concluded that 80 percent of our health care dollars are being spent on 20 percent of the population - the elderly and the chronically ill. Wellness programs have been identified as preventing illness and its associated costs. We'll tease out the reasons for the high cost of health care, and look at what we're getting for the money we put into the system. (Listen)

Guests:

• Dr. Elliott Fisher, professor at Dartmouth Medical School and director of Center for Health Policy Research at The Dartmouth Institute.

• Dr. Mark Novotny, chief medical officer for Southwestern Vermont Health Care, executive committee member for the Vermont Blueprint for Health, the state's chronic care initiative.

Financing Care

How we deliver health care and how we insure Vermonters is a philosophical and a financial question. We examine the pros and cons of consumer-driven insurance plans, single-payer systems and the role of community rating in pricing health insurance in Vermont. (Listen)

Guest:

• Dr. Deb Richter

• Rep. Tom Koch of Barre

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