Sep 18, 2026 · 27 min · 12 segments
Vermont's top journalists join moderator Mitch Wertlieb to delve into the most important news stories of the week.
Lola Dufour, where does this leave the health network and why are these jobs being eliminated?
It is on track to lose the last number I heard was roughly $75 million this fiscal year.
And that is because of a confluence of factors, some of which are larger than simply Vermont.
And we know this because Dartmouth Health just across the Connecticut River the same day also announced layoffs.
And some of it is because of Vermont's specific factors, right? Because of our really high health insurance rates, there is a ton of pressure, regulatory and political pressure, on the network to find ways to rein in costs.
One of the things we heard in that clip there was about the stock market we were talking about at the top.
I was reading that there is $1.5 billion in reserves that the hospital network has.
Like no one is worried that the university of the medical center is going to like close down the way that we are about certain rural hospitals, for example.
Yeah.
The problem is they are using it, and they are, you know, they are dealing with pretty steep operating losses right now.
And so that's the argument that they're making, right, is that, okay, yes, we have reserves, but we are spending them down.
And also part of our financial health is a function of a really strong stock market that everyone is also kind of worried might crash and burn like tomorrow.
Lola Dufour, where does this leave the health network and why are these jobs being eliminated?
It is on track to lose the last number I heard was roughly $75 million this fiscal year.
And that is because of a confluence of factors, some of which are larger than simply Vermont.
And we know this because Dartmouth Health just across the Connecticut River the same day also announced layoffs.
And some of it is because of Vermont's specific factors, right? Because of our really high health insurance rates, there is a ton of pressure, regulatory and political pressure, on the network to find ways to rein in costs.
One of the things we heard in that clip there was about the stock market we were talking about at the top.
I was reading that there is $1.5 billion in reserves that the hospital network has.
Like no one is worried that the university of the medical center is going to like close down the way that we are about certain rural hospitals, for example.
Yeah.
The problem is they are using it, and they are, you know, they are dealing with pretty steep operating losses right now.
And so that's the argument that they're making, right, is that, okay, yes, we have reserves, but we are spending them down.
And also part of our financial health is a function of a really strong stock market that everyone is also kind of worried might crash and burn like tomorrow.
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