Vermont Passes Single-Payer Health Care

[lakhota]

Vermont Passes Single-Payer Health Care, World Doesn't End

As Gov. Peter Shumlin took his spot on the granite steps of the Vermont State House, a row of people fanned out behind him wearing bright red t-shirts proclaiming, “Health care is a human right.” The slogan sounded noble, and wildly unrealistic. Until the governor spoke.

“We gather here today to launch the first single-payer health care system in America,” began Shumlin, a Democrat who has been governor barely four months. “To do in Vermont what has taken too long: have a health care system, the best in the world, that treats health care as a right, and not a privilege."

Moments later, the governor made history, signing a law that sets Vermont on a course to provide health care for all of its 620,000 citizens through a European-style single payer system called Green Mountain Care. Key components include containing costs by setting reimbursement rates for health care providers and streamlining administration into a single, state-managed system. The federal health care reform law would not allow Vermont to enact single payer until 2017; Vermont is asking the administration to grant it a waiver so that it can get there even faster, by 2014..

The push for single payer system in Vermont was built slowly and methodically over the last decade, but has moved with remarkable speed since Shumlin took office in January. A few weeks after the new governor’s inauguration, the Democratic-controlled Legislature convened a rare joint session to hear from Dr. William Hsiao, a Harvard economist who has been involved in designing health care systems in seven countries. Last year, the legislature commissioned Hsiao to analyze the costs and benefits of various health care options, ranging from single payer to a fully privately managed system. The soft-spoken economist told a packed state House that a single payer plan would be about 25 percent cheaper for consumers, businesses, and the government than the current system of private health insurance, saving about $500 million in just the first year.

The data emboldened Shumlin, the legislature, and the single-payer advocates who had organized throughout the past decade, even as Shumlin’s Republican predecessor dismissed their ideas. Last fall, Shumlin had campaigned on twin themes of job creation and health care reform, and he often cited his experience as the owner of a successful travel business. (“I know firsthand that the biggest obstacle to job growth is the 10, 20, 30 percent increases in insurance premiums.”) He slammed the current “unsustainable system that will … bankrupt us.”

Single payer advocates have been a constant and visible presence around the state. The independent Vermont Workers’ Center launched its “health care is a human right” campaign in 2008—inspired, said health care organizer James Haslam, by the desperate calls the Center was receiving on its workers’ hotline. “It was becoming more of a health care hotline,” he said. The group’s members went door to door, conducted numerous forums for legislators and organized health care rallies that drew thousands.

Health care providers also spoke up. Dr. Deb Richter, a family physician, moved to Vermont in 1999 from upstate New York, where she despaired at seeing her patients getting sicker and even dying as a result of problems with health insurance. As chair of Vermont Health Care for All, she gave 500 talks around the state, and helped bring along many reluctant health care providers. Richter was beaming when I saw her in the State House lobby last week. “I feel ecstatic,” she told me. “It’s like giving birth.”

More: motherjones.com/politics/2011/05/vermont-single-payer-health-care

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

Looks like in a year or two, Vermont will start losing physicians just like Massachusetts... wait times will also increase as they did in MA.

[lakhota]

May 30, 2011 19:58:12 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

Looks like in a year or two, Vermont will start losing physicians just like Massachusetts... wait times will also increase as they did in MA.

Yeah, yeah, and the world will probably come to an end. Is your glass always half empty?

[chiver78]

May 30, 2011 19:58:12 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

Looks like in a year or two, Vermont will start losing physicians just like Massachusetts... wait times will also increase as they did in MA.

you do understand that VT is the first single-payer system in the country, right? MA mandated that its residents have health insurance, but it didn't dictate the provider. VT is the first to be recognized as single-payer.

[Politically_Incorrect12]

I guess they don't already have enough budget problems...

[lakhota]

you do understand that VT is the first single-payer system in the country, right? MA mandated that its residents have health insurance, but it didn't dictate the provider. VT is the first to be recognized as single-payer.

Exactly, but that's probably too complicated for rightie brains to deal with.

[rovo]

I will be watching this event with great interest over the coming couple of years to see how it works out. It will be a great experiment to follow as the number of people involved are enough to make a difference with costs.

[floridayankee]

May 30, 2011 20:51:29 GMT -5 @lakhota said:

you do understand that VT is the first single-payer system in the country, right? MA mandated that its residents have health insurance, but it didn't dictate the provider. VT is the first to be recognized as single-payer.

Exactly, but that's probably too complicated for rightie brains to deal with.

Au contraire, this rightie loves it. Now all those that believe health care is a right have a place to move to and partake in their liberal paradise without screwing up the rest of the rest of our country.

Weak attempt at insulting our rightie brains by the way. You need to work on that Lak.

[Bluerobin]

No different than what insurance companies do - "this procedure is only worth $xx.xx. It works for business.

[ugonow]

Any system we use will still run into the same problem...high costs.

[EVT1]

State by state or all at once- doesn't matter much as long as health insurance companies become a thing of the past. Good riddance- can't wait for VT to tell them officially to get the hell out of their state. I wonder what the republicans are going to say when it becomes a success- I predict they bring out the big guns and try and kill it any way they can before it does. Good luck- people are on to you.

[cme1201]

May 31, 2011 12:03:09 GMT -5 EVT1 said:

State by state or all at once- doesn't matter much as long as health insurance companies become a thing of the past. Good riddance- can't wait for VT to tell them officially to get the hell out of their state. I wonder what the republicans are going to say when it becomes a success- I predict they bring out the big guns and try and kill it any way they can before it does. Good luck- people are on to you.

I hope it comes out as a roaring success, providing for any and every disease and disability that there is, I hope the people of vermont can afford what they are getting.

I hope that the state can balance it's budget, Vermont will receive approximately $59 million from the federal government under H.R. 1586, a $26 billion plan to give states money for Medicaid and education that the President signed into law on August 10, 2010. Governor Peter Shumlin called for an immediate state government hiring freeze and said that requests to fill vacant positions must be cleared through Secretary of Administration Jeb Spaulding.[8] He said another $2 million could be saved from the state employees’ retirement plan through "benefit recalibration," requiring a reduction in benefits coupled with increased contributions.[8] Shumlin said he will also seek a 2% savings from the state’s personal services contracts. The bipartisan House Appropriations Committee unanimously approved its $4.8 billion budget bill on March 21, 2011. The bill is based on the assumption that the state will not have to pay the federal government $4.1 million in unemployment insurance interest due because President Barack Obama had proposed giving states a temporary break to help them weather the continuing economic downturn. Cuts
The budget makes $83 million in cuts to the general fund, including funding cuts to mental health agencies, programs for children and money for adoptive children who don't qualify for Medicaid
sunshinereview.org/index.php/Vermont_state_budget

[floridayankee]

May 31, 2011 12:03:09 GMT -5 EVT1 said:

I wonder what the republicans are going to say when it becomes a success-

I think you'll be wondering for a long....long....long....time.

[EVT1]

Maybe- depends how big a fight they put up. The math doesn't lie however- single payer systems will save money. What could be worse than what we already have- the most expensive system in the world that can't even take care of its own citizens? It's a national disgrace.

[Politically_Incorrect12]

May 31, 2011 13:06:46 GMT -5 EVT1 said:

Maybe- depends how big a fight they put up. The math doesn't lie however- single payer systems will save money. What could be worse than what we already have- the most expensive system in the world that can't even take care of its own citizens? It's a national disgrace.

Be careful what you wish for because you might actually get it at some point and then you'll complain that it wasn't what you thought it was, or most likley you'll complain that Republicans screwed it up.

[floridayankee]

May 31, 2011 13:06:46 GMT -5 EVT1 said:

Maybe- depends how big a fight they put up. The math doesn't lie however- single payer systems will save money. What could be worse than what we already have- the most expensive system in the world that can't even take care of its own citizens? It's a national disgrace.

Personally, I think it's more of a disgrace that so many freedom loving Americans seem to think I need taken care of by a nanny state.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Anyone know what ever happened to TennCare?

[ugonow]

Until someone comes up with a way to control costs,none of the above will be sustainable,including the employer based system we use now.

[EVT1]

May 31, 2011 13:54:51 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

Anyone know what ever happened to TennCare?

I do- do you?

Tenncare and the like are the result of the profit driven insurance model and only exist because of the failure of the private sector to provide essential services. You cannot have a half private/half public health care system and expect it to work.

[mmhmm]

May 30, 2011 21:00:17 GMT -5 rovo said:

I will be watching this event with great interest over the coming couple of years to see how it works out. It will be a great experiment to follow as the number of people involved are enough to make a difference with costs.

I agree, rovo. This will be interesting to observe over the course of time. I, too, will be keeping an eye on it.

[hello fromWarsaw]

Health Refom DOES include the first cost controls, and more will come- it STARTS regulation. Switz and the Netherlands aleady have private insurer health care that works fine.
Pubs have NOTHING but more disaster and fear mongering.

[cme1201]

Pubs have NOTHING but more disaster and fear mongering

This coming from the Loudest Mouthpiece of the party that has given us such intertaining threads such as

Jose the poor immigrant who hasn't had a wage increase in 9 years (even though Jose hasn't learned english, is still in an entry level cleaning position, and blames all his issues on the big box store that he cleans yet doesn't employee him nor issues his paycheck)

Wages: Grocery Store Workers Go On Hunger Strike
www.notmsnmoney.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=politics&action=display&thread=8978

That the Paul Ryan Medicare budget proposals are going to affect anyone on Medicare or receiving medicare in the next 10 years are going to be hurt.

Republicans want to "Empower Grandma" www.notmsnmoney.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=politics&action=display&thread=8705

I will direct you to reply #1 message #2 and watch the video, if that isn't pure unadulterated fearmongering I don't know what you could call fearmongering.

[ugonow]

And republicans weren't when they scared the crap out of seniors when Obama proposed cutting the most fraud and waste filled part of medicare,Advantage, and providing the benefits under regular medicare? Think back it really was not that long ago.

[Deleted]

Some people are forgetting that repubs support state's rights. It WILL be interesting to watch this state do it's thing... and I am glad it is not my state.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

May 31, 2011 14:05:09 GMT -5 EVT1 said:

May 31, 2011 13:54:51 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

Anyone know what ever happened to TennCare?

I do- do you?

Tenncare and the like are the result of the profit driven insurance model and only exist because of the failure of the private sector to provide essential services. You cannot have a half private/half public health care system and expect it to work.

So, the government has to force every person into a single payer system? Why do you libs constantly deny that there's no choice, no compeition, no freedom in socialist medicine- and why do you deny it's socialized medicine?

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

I think Republicans should play the emotional game. They should create an ad with grandma taking her little 2 year old great granddaughter out to Death Valley, tossing her out of the van into the dust next to a rattle snake or a scorpion and driving off saying, "You're on your own kid! I gotta have my Medicare!"...or maybe kids in a salt mine environment like in Temple of Doom-- working below the earth in horrible conditions being beaten and whipped to pay for Medicare just the way it is now-- which would require an 80% to 90% tax rate. Republicans aren't going to be able to explain the facts, correct though they are, like bean counters to the public. They have to show just how evil and selfish the status-quo promoters really are. It's time to tell the truth: Debt is taxation without representation. Our revolution was fought on this principle-- our kids didn't vote for this. They really have no legal or moral obligation to pay it all back.

[ugonow]

think Republicans should play the emotional game. They should create an ad with grandma taking her little 2 year old great granddaughter out to Death Valley, tossing her out of the van into the dust next to a rattle snake or a scorpion and driving off saying, "You're on your own kid! I gotta have my Medicare!"...or maybe kids in a salt mine environment like in Temple of Doom-- working below the earth in horrible conditions being beaten and whipped to pay for Medicare just the way it is now-

"Two weeks ago, a large group of House Republicans got together to call for some sort of rhetorical truce on Medicare. They acknowledged that they may have engaged in a little demagoguery to get elected in 2010, but they want to “wipe the slate clean” and “hit the reset button” now that they’re in office. No more “Mediscare” tactics, they said.

Two weeks later, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) decided he’s not quite done with these tactics after all.

“The only people in Washington, DC who have voted to cut Medicare have been the Democrats,” said Boehner, “when they voted to cut $500 billion in Medicare during Obamacare.”


The line quickly answered questions about how the GOP would respond to the embarrassing defeat in the Buffalo-area special election this week. Republicans know they’re getting slammed over Medicare, so the House Speaker was sending a not-so-subtle about the new GOP message: “Against Medicare? Us? It’s those rascally Democrats who cut the program.”

Pressed by Greg Sargent, Boehner’s chief spokesperson went a little further.

“The Democrats’ health care law siphoned more than $500 billion away from Medicare into an unsustainable new entitlement — that’s a Medicare cut. Now, they are insisting on the status quo, which means Medicare’s bankruptcy and steep benefit cuts….”

www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_05/a_swing_and_a_miss_from_boehne029861.php

[ugonow]

Don't tell me you don't recall all the rhetoric about cutting Advantage. Or how about Trig having to plead for his life in front of death panels?

[Deleted]

They really didn't. None of my kids are real political, like I was they spend much of their lives working to pay their bills and the rest with their kids. BUT-- I have lots of young people around my house because of my kids, and many of them are single, no kids, paying attention, and NO they are not so happy. Kids will sometimes come in my room and watch news with me, talk politics with me-- everyone knows that is what I am about these days (SADLY), and these kids will talk about stuff. Their parents, dumb things they did, did not do, etc, and how the kids are stuck with the mess. Yeah, my generation screwed things up for the kids, and the babies, and future babies. That 60s/70s revolution worked out REAL well.

[Deleted]

Sorry, ugo, but many of us BELIEVE the "Trig begging for his life thing." When you read up on these eugenics people, scary as shit, by the way, and see them in power now-- yes, I can see a time when babies like Trig will be found before birth and eliminated. Just as I can see a time when people are sterilized without their consent. If you have read up on some of the people Obama hangs out with you would see this. All I can think is that people either agree, do not care, do not believe it, or do not know.