Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Expert tells Senate Health & Welfare that health-care ‘‘waste’’ is large and damages Vermont local economies
Summary
Professor Elliot Fisher told the Senate Health & Welfare Committee that 20–33% of U.S. health-care spending is wasteful, driving local economic harm; he and committee members discussed simulation modeling, reinvesting savings under Act 167 (2022) and emergency resilience planning.
Elliot Fisher, a professor at Dartmouth and health-policy researcher, told the Vermont Senate Health & Welfare Committee that a substantial share of U.S. health-care spending — commonly estimated at roughly 20–33% — represents waste that harms patients and local economies.
Fisher said the state can reduce unnecessary spending through stronger primary care, better care coordination and payment reforms; he urged using some savings to invest in social supports that improve population health and local labor-market outcomes. "We can do better," Fisher said, summarizing the message of his slides and the evidence he presented.
The presentation reviewed published waste estimates and mechanisms behind them. Fisher cited academic work and large evidence syntheses showing broad categories of waste — failures of care delivery…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
