Shumlin: 'Don't Quit' On Single Payer Before Work Begins

[ProSense]

Shumlin: 'Don't Quit' On Single Payer Before Work Begins

By Bob Kinzel

Gov. Peter Shumlin is fiercely defending his plan to implement a single payer health care system after Senate President John Campbell expressed concerns about the plan.

A number of Democrats are reluctant to commit to a single payer plan before there’s a comprehensive review of the $2 billion financing system that will be needed to pay for it. Some Democratic lawmakers worry that moving to a single payer health care system in several years could be a political liability. They also want to know the details of the benefit package that will be part of a single payer program.

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“I believe that we will collectively come to the same conclusion, that moving to a system where you spend less money for better quality and better outcomes,” said Shumlin. “Combined with a payment system where we all, based on our ability to pay, (will) lead to prosperity and an affordable quality health care system for all.”

Despite the delay in developing a financing plan, Shumlin says he still thinks there’s enough time to meet his target date of 2017 for Vermont to become the first state in the country to implement a single payer health care system.

http://digital.vpr.net/post/shumlin-dont-quit-single-payer-work-begins

Don’t quit before you start

By Ellen Oxfeld
Rutland Herald, March 27, 2014

This week in a VPR interview, Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell backed away from an unwavering commitment to the historic task set out in Act 48 — creating a publicly funded guaranteed health care system for all Vermonters...He demurred that he was not sure that a single-payer financing plan would be “politically viable” in the Legislature because of the “costs” of single payer.

Senator Campbell needs to reconsider. It’s true that financing a single-payer plan will cost about $2 billion; but that is actually less than we Vermonters are already paying. (In fact, in 2011, we Vermonters paid $2.5 billion in private premiums and out-of-pockets for our health care.)

It is also odd to see a Senate leader shrinking from his delegated role of doing just what he has been selected to do, lead. In the past, Senator Campbell has been a leader on many issues, such as marriage equality and in passing Act 48, the 2011 road map legislation for single-payer. Yes, successfully enacting an equitable and viable single-payer financing package will not be easy. It will take political courage...the facts support moving forward, not giving up before even trying. After all, in five official studies commissioned since 2001 by the state of Vermont, the conclusion has always been the same — there is no other way to guarantee health care for all Vermonters while containing costs other than a publicly financed (“single-payer”) system.

The Senate president stated that he would like an “alternate” plan in case single-payer financing does not work out. But we already have an alternate plan in place — the Affordable Care Act. And although that act has certainly helped some individuals to purchase private insurance, it still leaves in place our multi-tiered system of different private plans, with different levels of coverage and the expenses created by the complex administration of such a system.

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http://www.pnhp.org/news/2014/march/don%E2%80%99t-quit-before-you-start

[ProSense]

1. Kick! n/t

[ProSense]

2. Another! n/t

[steve2470]

3. k&r nt