(Promoting, with a reminder to candidates that GMD will front page messages such as this to the community. – promoted by odum)
I believe every Vermonter should have access to quality, affordable health care every day of his or her life. Call it single-payer. Call it Medicare for All. Call it whatever you want — what we need is a health care system that is focused on patient health, not tied to employment, and ensures that no Vermonter has to choose between health care and other basic necessities.
On Tuesday, I attended the “People’s Forum on Health Care” at St. Michael’s College, where I announced my plan for moving toward health care for all Vermonters.
My first step will be holding a public hearing to get the ball rolling. As Chair of the Health and Welfare Committee in the Senate, I will hold a public hearing on January 12 to begin the difficult process of building a new health care system. We will be looking at S.88 and H.100 — the bills that advocate a single payer system — as well as other legislation that may be introduced for consideration this year. This will be a joint hearing with the House Health Care Committee.
After this public hearing, I will hold committee hearings to figure out how we can move from our broken market-driven, employer-based system to a fair and just system that guarantees every single Vermonter comprehensive health care for every single day of his or her life.
I am committed to looking at the possibility of a single payer health care system in Vermont. This won’t be easy — we’ll need to convince the federal government to allow us to demonstrate that there is a better way. I do believe we can do this, and I need your help.
Please join me in this important discussion. Share your support for universal access health care, as well as your thoughts and comments on the best way to move forward:
http://dougracine.com/health-care
As a state senator, as lieutenant governor, and as a small business owner, I’ve been a passionate leader for those in need. As governor of Vermont, I will continue to fight for those most vulnerable, and it starts with a promise to pursue universal health care — the most basic of human rights — for everyone in our state.
Sincerely,
Doug Racine
Single-payer is definitely the only way to go. Everyone should be pushing hard for legislation to allow states to individually choose this direction. There just is no real will in Washington to give us universal healthcare because the insurance lobby is simply too powerful. So let’s at least get it right in Vermont.
Having been hit with constantly-increasing premiums over the years, plus two bouts of insane COBRA payments (which ate all of our life savings) and having to forego insurance due to the cost, with 2 young children (except for a 2-week stint when eligible for Dr. Dynasaur), I think this would be a GREAT idea.
Most people don’t know how difficult it is to obtain health care when uninsured. They don’t know that every bill is 3 to 10 times more expensive if you don’t have insurance. They don’t know that doctors and hospitals will try to encourage you to go away – and that most primary care doctors simply won’t take you if you’re uninsured, forcing you to seek even basic care at the emergency room (during our uninsured phase, my daughter’s case of hives cost $400, not including the cost of the prescription, for 2 minutes of a doctor’s time. For double irony, she got the hives in reaction to something in that hospital while visiting a sick family member).
Most people don’t know that if you have “junk” insurance (high deductible, high co-pay), it probably also doesn’t cover most of the common problems you’re likely to encounter – and you won’t know it until you need to use it.
Most people don’t know that even with good insurance, the insurance company spends hours upon hours to find ways to deny care that they are supposed to cover. This takes your doctor away from working with patients (increasing your time in the waiting room) while he/she makes never-ending phone calls to try to get your care covered. And often, patients become sicker or die while waiting for the coverage to be approved. Many never get that approval, but get the treatment anyway, and go bankrupt as a result.
Most people don’t know that insurance companies can decide to drop your coverage with no notice, if they decide that you have a “pre-existing” condition. And they make up all sorts of interesting pre-existing conditions. For example, one woman was denied cancer treatment because she had acne as a teenager. Hearing the stories of “rescissions” (ending your coverage retroactively) is like listening to those tapes of Enron weasels, joking over the phone about letting grandma die as they blacked out power in the middle of a California heat wave (note: people did die as a result).
Just like the corrupt Enron model of electrical power distribution, the current health care distribution system is manipulated to prevent necessary care just to maximize profits.
If you have insurance, someone whose income depends entirely on preventing you from receiving health care is in charge of whether or not you receive that care. The more they deny, the more they earn. A single-payer publicly funded program would remove that incentive from the system.
Medicare for all is the right direction.
Is it possible you could open up hearings that would allow participation at the same level as the recent marriage debates? A bunch of Senate hearings around the state with book ends in the House chambers?
Its either Dunne or Racine. Both are saying what I like to hear. Dunne is bringing the serious innovation and creative spirit to the table though. I’ll definitely be trying to scrutinize both of them more closely as the campaign continues.
My question is how are you going to respond to charges that you are using your position as chair for electioneering? How are you going to keep the focus on the policy discussion and off the election year noise?
and remember the whole point of posting a diary is to respond to comments!
It’s great to hear candidates talking about single payer. We need to support this effort by being ready to shout down the other side.
In the 1800s, doctors worked tirelessly to take medicine from the profiteering snake oil salesmen, and make medicine a science, based on non-profit research. We have let the profiteers back in, and that is why we are in crisis.
Smallpox and polio were not cured by profiteers. Penicillin was not discovered by profiteers, but its value has been squandered by profiteers.
And, all over the world, socialist medicine gets better results for half the cost!
“And, all over the world, socialist medicine gets better results for half the cost!”
yes, gov4all, socialist systems do provide more for less. It is great to hear Doug Racine is going to take this issue up this winter. It means that at least we’re going to talk about doing it. Is shap on board too? Thanks Doug. I was at the forum where he announced it. Lots of hands clapped then.
Mataliandy, your story was awful. I, too, have been through it in a bad way almost like you, worse in some ways (I could not afford cobra and then got hit with a huge medical problem while uninsured) which is why this issue hits home so much. Under the Republicans, the profiteers, as was said here in another post, have come back in, and have ruined our health care system. It is time to take it back to single payer, socialistic, nationalized, or whatever you want to call it.
At a recent single-payer event in White River, Sen. Dick McCormack pointed out that the President of the Senate and the chair of Senate Health and Welfare are both running for governor, and it might not be a bad thing if they decided to compete to see who could pass single-payer health care financing.