Letters to the Editor
Propaganda and Anonymity
May 12, 2012
Rutland HeraldPropaganda is the strong point of those who oppose changing our expensive health care mess into a single-payer system. An example is Wednesday’s letter from Jeff Wennberg, spokesman for Vermonters for Health Care Freedom. His anonymous “Freedom” group won’t say who gives it money. Wennberg defends nondisclosure as necessary “to protect the hundreds of Vermont small businesses and health care providers who support us from bullying and economic blackmail...
Wennberg's shifting story
May 11, 2012
Times ArgusMr. Wennberg is telling a shifting story about health care.Mr. Wennberg, in a response to my earlier letter, now seems to be backing away from advocating insurance outside of H.559, Vermont’s implementation of the exchange. This is good. I am glad he now says, “For the exchange to serve its purpose, the state needs to set the standards and approve all plans offered there.” I heartily agree. I hope we hear no more from him about insurance “outside of the exchang...
Health Care Plan Untested?
May 09, 2012
Manchester JournalTo the Editor: You may not have seen it, but the folks at Vermonters for Health Care Freedom (VHCF) have made a pretty slick 8-minute video that they apparently sent to all our Vermont legislators.The crux is that our health care reform is too untested, too complicated, just beyond our abilities to institute. That's a pretty bizarre claim.Too untested? Really?Did VHCF simply miss the fact that the entire rest of the developed world has health care systems much closer to our new...
Health Care Plan a Plus
May 09, 2012
Manchester Journal To the Editor: In his Op-Ed column, "Legislative Session Blunts Hope for Shared Prosperity" (5/3/2012), Bruce Lisman levies two complaints against the legislature with regard to health care. First, Lisman claims that the Catamount Employer Assessment will continue to be levied on employers who do not cover their employees, even though the Catamount program has been canceled. In fact, the Employer Assessment was never intended to fund Catamount Health alone. It ...
No "shenanigans" in health care reform
May 07, 2012
Burlington Free PressIn her recent opinion piece on health care (“On health matters: watch the shenanigans,” May 1), Rep. Heidi Scheuermann uses terms such as “shifty” and “shenanigans” to characterize the work of our Legislature regarding health care legislation this session. Her main complaint is that while the Catamount program has been eliminated, the Employer Assessment that paid for it (assessed on those employers who do not cover their own employees) co...
Vermont health care in intensive care
May 07, 2012
Burlington Free PressI thought robust meant healthy, strong and sustainable. So why is Bruce Lisman and his Campaign for Vermont calling themselves a “robust” effort to secure Vermont’s future (“Vermont fails badly at transparency,” April 12). Has Mr. Lisman missed the last 10 years of studies showing that the current state of health care in Vermont is heading toward the intensive care unit? Our current situation is not robust and will not remain robust with Bruce L...
Following money to insurers
May 05, 2012
Rutland HeraldMr. Wennberg complains that Vermont’s implementation of H.559 limits insurance to those who meet the criteria and are listed on the Vermont exchange. He conveniently ignores the fact that health coverage within the exchange must meet minimum standards for each of the coverage levels, bronze, silver, gold, etc. This means that the insurance companies must provide standard, well-defined coverage and compete on cost. This is good for the Vermont consumer. Insurance companies com...
Move beyond status quo
May 04, 2012
Rutland HeraldRecent commentaries have likened progress toward Vermont’s single-payer health care system to driving through a thick fog.If so, much of the fog is generated by single-payer foes such as Jeff Wennberg’s secretively-financed “Vermonters for Health Care Freedom,” which aims to push single-payer into the ditch by confusing and frightening us.Although the details of Green Mountain Care are still incomplete, the planners are not groping in the dark or pushing the...
We need accessible health care in Vermont
May 04, 2012
Caledonian RecordTo the Editor:I recently moved to Vermont to participate in and learn from the farmers and fruit tree growers of this region. I'm passionate about growing good food and caring for the earth, and I want to build a life and make a living practicing community based agriculture.However, I have major fears about pursuing this line of work because I can't afford health care or health insurance. I know that it would only takes one disaster to wipe out my savings. This experience is com...
Status Quo is Worse
May 03, 2012
Caledonian RecordTo the Editor:I would like to respond to the editorial "Tax in search of a program" in the April 12 edition of The Caledonian-Record. There were many misconceptions with this piece that need to be illuminated and, of course, too little space in which to do it.One is the ludicrous assertion that "Catamount Health is a socialist scheme that gouges money from business and showers it on Vermonters deemed worthy by Montpelier." Catamount is as much a socialized sy...
Vermonters are already in a health care crisis
April 28, 2012
Bennington BannerVermonters are already in a health care crisis.I am writing today to address some of the negative advertising targeted at the Healthcare is a Human Right Campaign. A video produced by Vermonters for Health Care Freedom claims that the new universal healthcare law will create a health care crisis for 80,000 Vermonters. In my view most, if not all Vermonters are already in the midst of a health care crisis. Private insurers are more interested in profit margins than in your or my ...
Scare tactics on health reform
April 28, 2012
Burlington Free Press I found Jeff Wennberg’s letter on April 3 “Single-payer is not the only option” interesting. Considering that he’s executive director of the Vermonters for Health Care Freedom, I expected to hear some solutions about how they would serve the health care need of all Vermonters, especially the uninsured and underinsured. None was forthcoming. Instead Wennberg tried to use scare tactics to support his stand. His points were weak and he left plenty...
Lisman has no solution
April 23, 2012
Times-Argus In the recent op-ed, Bruce Lisman writes, “Is health care reform important? Of course it is. Yet politicians in Montpelier are ‘rocketing’ us to a new system without showing us the cost.” Really, Mr. Lisman is apparently ignorant of or is ignoring four official studies commissioned by the state on health care costs since 2001. These include the Lewin report in 2001; the Thorpe report in 2006; the Hsiao report in 2011; and BISHCA report in 2011. The findings ...
Profits over health care isn't working
April 21, 2012
The Colchester SunI am writing to thank Mr. Lawrence Keyes for his letter “Willing to take the risk of health reform” in the April 5 edition of The Colchester Sun. A wrong turn on a web link led me to Mr. Keyes’ excellent letter. I hope that the editors of The Colchester Sun will forgive that I am not local.Mr. Keyes’ letter was refuting an editorial by Mr. Bruce Lisman (“Vermont fails at transparency” March 29) of a group called “Campaign for Vermont.&r...
Real affordable health care
April 19, 2012
Brattleboro ReformerMany Vermonters have expressed concerns about the transitional "health care exchange" process. It is important to keep in mind that this is not part of the single-payer system being developed by the Green Mountain Care Board. Under the benefits plan described by the GMC Board all Vermonters will have a simpler, more coordinated, incentive-driven healthcare system. Compensation for providers will be value-based -- they get paid to improve patient outcomes at the...
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