Footnotes to “Straight Scoop” Lit Piece
These are the footnotes to the lit piece printed by Vermont LEADS entitled, “The Straight Scoop on Single Payer.”
1. http://www.pnhp.org/news/2011/march/more-than-200-doctors-contemplate-moving-to-vermont-if-it-adopts-single-payer-health
2. The Vermont law that puts us on the road to single payer is Act 48. It states that Green Mountain Care (Vermont Single Payer) must include benefits at least as good as Catamount Health: http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/2012/Acts/ACT048.pdf, p.80
3. For instance, we can be limited by “network requirements.” Those without insurance are even more limited as some physicians don’t take uninsured patients.
4. Instead, we will have a public system that will be accountable to all Vermonters.
5. Act 48 states “For individuals eligible for Medicare, the benefit package shall include the benefits provided to these individuals under federal law, as well as any additional benefits provided as part of the Green Mountain Care benefit package.” http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/2012/Acts/ACT048.pdf, p. 82-82. Act 48 also specifies that the benefits package be at least as good as Catamount (p.80) and this is already more comprehensive than Basic Medicare.
6. Medicare has lower administrative costs than our private system. More insurance companies mean more money going into overhead and paperwork, but not necessarily into health care.