Tom Blakely for Vermont

09/06/2026

09/03/2026

Vermont needs more healthcare workers.

But there's another side to that problem that we don't talk about enough:

How many people would make excellent nurses, technicians and other healthcare professionals, but can't afford the education required to become one?

That's a barrier we can actually attack.

Vermont already uses scholarships, tuition assistance and educational loan-repayment programs for several healthcare professions. I want us looking at how we can build on those programs and make healthcare careers realistically accessible to more Vermonters.

That accomplishes more than one thing.

It creates good career opportunities for Vermonters.

It grows the workforce our healthcare system desperately needs.

And most importantly, it helps patients actually find someone who can care for them.

Healthcare affordability doesn't matter much if you can't get an appointment.

09/01/2026

Here is one number that helps explain why healthcare affordability has become such an urgent issue in Vermont:

$1,299 per month.

That's Vermont's average 2026 benchmark premium for a 40-year-old purchasing insurance through the ACA marketplace, before subsidies.

The national average is $625.

Vermont's is the highest in the country.

And even relatively modest increases become difficult when they're added to prices that are already this high. Vermont regulators recently approved marketplace premium increases of roughly 1% to 6% for 2027.

This isn't just a healthcare problem.

Every additional dollar a household spends on insurance is a dollar that cannot go toward housing, food, heat, transportation or savings.

Making Vermont affordable requires making healthcare affordable.

Sources: KFF, 2026 Marketplace Average Monthly Benchmark Premiums; Vermont Public, Aug. 20, 2026. (linked in comments)

08/31/2026

Healthcare is often discussed as though patients are ordinary consumers shopping in an ordinary marketplace.

But healthcare doesn't work like buying a car or choosing what to eat for dinner.

If the price of a new car is too high, you can keep the one you have. If you are sick or injured, your ability to walk away is very different.

As I wrote in my healthcare newsletter:

“When I need urgent healthcare, I have never said, ‘Hang on while I research the most cost-effective option.’”

Especially in a rural state like Vermont, you may not have several hospitals, specialists or primary-care practices competing for your business.

That matters when we talk about fixing healthcare costs. Patients need quality care they can access when they need it at a price they can afford.

That should be where we start.

08/28/2026

Here is why I think Vermont needs to deal with data centers before they become a problem.

The independent monitor of the PJM electricity market—which covers all or part of 14 Mid-Atlantic and Midwest states—concluded that expected electricity demand from data centers was a primary reason for $23 billion in customer price increases expected to last through at least 2028.

Data centers can bring economic activity. They also consume extraordinary amounts of electricity.

The question is not simply whether Vermont should ever have them.

The question is: Who pays for the power and infrastructure they require?

My answer is that ordinary ratepayers should not be stuck subsidizing extraordinarily large private energy users.

Planning and regulation are much easier before the bill arrives.

[link to source in comments]

08/27/2026

Facebook is useful. It is not how I want to communicate with constituents exclusively.

Each week, I send a newsletter with more room to dig into issues like energy, healthcare, housing and what is happening in Vermont government.

I also explain where the information comes from. I generally do not rely on social-media claims or opinions unless I can independently verify them.

If you would like the longer version of these conversations delivered directly to you, subscribe here:

https://tomblakely.com/newsletters.php

I’ll respect your inbox and your time.

08/27/2026

When I talk about putting solar on the developed spaces we already have, this is not theoretical for me.

I am one of the owners of the solar array on the Holden-Leonard Mill on Benmont Avenue.

Every time I look across Bennington, I see commercial rooftops that could potentially be doing the same thing: producing electricity without consuming another open field or changing the character of a neighborhood.

That is the kind of practical energy planning I want us doing more often.

We need more renewable power.

We also need communities to have a voice in where projects go.

Those two goals can coexist.

📸: Power Guru

08/26/2026

The transition to renewable energy is not something waiting for a distant future.

It is happening now.

The United States added 7.8 gigawatts of solar capacity in the first quarter of 2026 alone. Together, solar and battery storage accounted for 91% of all new generating capacity added to the U.S. grid during those three months.

Why?

Increasingly, because the economics work.

Businesses, utilities and homeowners are looking for reliable power and protection from volatile fuel costs. Renewable energy is competing on those terms—not simply because somebody told people it was the environmentally responsible choice.

That matters when Vermont decides where to invest next.

Source: Solar Energy Industries Association/Wood Mackenzie, U.S. Solar Market Insight Q2 2026 (link in comments)

08/25/2026

I support more solar power.

I also understand why people do not want every open field or scenic piece of Vermont covered with solar panels.

Those positions are not contradictory.

There are enormous amounts of already-developed space where solar can go: commercial rooftops, parking lots and other infrastructure.

Other places are getting even more creative. Switzerland is testing removable solar panels between the rails of an operating railway. More than 11,000 trains passed over the installation during its first year without disrupting railway operations. California has completed a pilot project putting solar panels over irrigation canals, producing electricity while also reducing evaporation.

Siting is a problem with solutions.

We should be looking for those solutions before treating every energy decision like a choice between renewable power and protecting the places we value.

Sources: SWI swissinfo; UC Merced. (links in comments)