Rutland Regional Medical Center

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Many Vermonters associate health care with pricey bills. But a rising number see it as a regular paycheck. Politicians and the public are debating how to curb the $3 billion spent annually in the Green Mountains on medical services, a growing figure that now accounts for about 15 percent of the gross state product. But each dollar going out of someone's pocket is going into someone else's - and, increasingly, it belongs to a family member, neighbor or friend. Vermont's health care system employs more than 41,500 people, or about one of every 10 workers in the state, the latest government figures show. Hospitals are the largest private employer in six of Vermont's 14 counties. Add almost 1,300 facilities ranging from doctor's offices to nursing homes and health care is the state's third largest industrial employer, the Vermont Department of Labor reports. Economists say that's only the start. "For every job at the hospitals and related facilities, approximately one job is created in the state economy," a report commissioned by the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems says. "The people who work directly for the hospital receive paychecks, which they then use to purchase goods and services in the - more available