For the first time since 2020, Vermont’s largest insurer did not lose money. BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont reported a net operating gain of $53 million in 2025 during a press call Monday.
The news will come as a relief to policymakers and regulators, who have reacted to BlueCross BlueShield’s rapidly deteriorating finances with growing alarm — and a spate of reforms. The insurer provides coverage for about 230,000 Vermonters, and its insolvency would have been catastrophic for the state’s wider health care system.
BlueCross has attributed the prior shortfalls to the exploding cost of care. Despite some of the highest premiums in the country, the insurers’ revenues have consistently fallen short in the face of rising utilization and high prices, particularly in hospital settings.
Following news that the nonprofit insurer had nearly emptied its reserves to cover almost $150 million in losses over four years, the Green Mountain Care Board aggressively cut hospital budgets and lawmakers enacted a cap on certain drug prices.
BlueCross CFO Ruth Greene said Monday the company was “on a path to financial recovery.” She credited state-level interventions and the nonprofit’s internal cost-cutting measures, which reduced expenses by about $7 million. The insurer also received a one-time $12 million cash infusion last year from the University of Vermont Medical Center, which the hospital paid to settle enforcement actions from regulators.
The Vermont insurer has been able to pay off in full a $30 million loan it took out last year from its affiliate, BlueCross BlueShield of Michigan, Greene said. And reserves now sit at $105 million — nearly double what they were at the end of 2024.
Still, BlueCross is not out of the woods. The company only has about two-thirds of what it should have saved in reserves, according to minimums set by the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation, Greene said.
And health care costs remain high and rising. The cost of claims rose about 12% in 2025 compared to the year prior, BlueCross officials said.
The insurer has taken steps to reduce the cost of claims going forward. It has restricted coverage for GLP-1s, the new class of popular but extraordinarily expensive weight loss drugs, and exited the Medicare Advantage market. It also sought relief from the state’s largest health care provider — University of Vermont Health — in contract negotiations. The network, whose high prices have attracted growing scrutiny, has since agreed to lower reimbursement rates by 12.3%, according to BlueCross.
Whether this will result in financial relief for everyday Vermonters remains to be seen. BlueCross officials said it’s too early to say whether policy holders will be able to avoid another set of double-digit premium hikes next year.
“Restoring the stability of our financials must be viewed as a multi-year process, not a single year event,” BlueCross CEO Beth Roberts said.
