Last updated: August 2023

Author: Planning Unit, Vermont Department of Health

Adults with low socioeconomic status who report having access to a usual primary care provider has remained statistically consistent over the last several years. Additionally, the comparison to all Vermont adults in 2021 is not statistically different (86% vs. 90%, respectively).

Even with health insurance, there are often long-wait times for first appointments for new patients, and not all primary care practices are accepting new patients on Medicaid, or even commercial insurance.

While waiting for initial appointments, some patients get discouraged, recover from their initial acute illness, or seek care at a local emergency room or one of an increasing number of urgent care centers opening in Vermont.

Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and rural health clinics (RHCs) are required to accept patients whether they have health insurance or not and offer sliding scale fees to patients without insurance. All Vermont hospital-affiliated primary care practices also offer financial assistance to help patients pay for care.

Those with lower levels of education and annual household income are more likely to have forgone care due to cost, as compared to those with more education or higher income. Adults with some college education or less are significantly more likely to cite cost as a barrier to medical care than those with a college degree or higher.

You can find more information in the Vermont Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System annual data summary reports.

The Health Department understands that addressing this need requires strong partnerships between public health and healthcare organizations.

Some of our current partners include:

• Vermont Free & Referral Clinics (previously Vermont Coalition of Clinics for the Uninsured--VCCU)
• Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) & Bi-State Primary Care Association (PCA)
  • Northern Tier Center for Health (NOTCH)
  • Lamoille Health Partners
  • Northern Counties Health Care (NCHC)
  • The Health Center (THC)
  • Little Rivers Health Center (LRHC)
  • Community Health Centers of Burlington (CHCB)
  • Community Health Centers of the Rutland Region (CHCRR)
  • North Star Health
  • Mountain Community Health
  • Gifford Health Care (GHC)
  • Battenkill Valley Health Center (BVHC)

Affordable health insurance (ongoing premiums and co-payments) enables patients to seek care with confidence that doing so will not be a financial burden to them.

Strong working relationships between Vermont’s free clinics and other local providers helps bridge the connection between patients needing ongoing care and practices that can provide that care.

Continue to partner with to the Vermont Free & Referral Clincs to support referrals to local dental and primary care providers as well as enrollment in health insurance through Vermont HealthConnect.

Adults with low socioeconomic status are defined as those with a high school education or less and earning less than 250% of the federal poverty level.

The results are weighted to represent the Vermont adult population (18 or older). The baseline year is 2017 and the 5-year target for the SHIP was calculated as a 5% improvement over the baseline.

The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) tracks risk behaviors, chronic disease and health status of adults using an annual telephone survey. Vermont participates in the BRFSS along with all other US states and territories with the support of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. You can read more about the survey on the department's BRFSS information page.