Ann Raynolds is a single payer activist in Norwich. Below are excerpts from her interview with Senator Dick McCormack, the primary sponsor of the single payer Senate bill (S.88). Senator McCormick sees some rays of hope for the present legislative session in Montpelier in terms of his single payer bill, but he also reminds us that ultimately, single payer will not become a reality in Vermont without the involvement of a wide array of citizens from many walks of life.
Ann Raynolds: Everyone is talking more about health INSURANCE than health CARE…or that’s what it sounds like.
Dick McCormack: There is talk at this point about both government providing universal access and government subsidizing payment to private insurance based on need.
AR: Are you pushing it?
DM: My number one priority is single payer. Right now that means S.88.
AR: We’ve certainly “churned the base” far more than anything I think we could have expected when we first met back in the Good Neighborhood Health Clinic…was it in August? It is a true movement now…. going off a bit in all directions, but a core group has hold of the core principles here. Please give me your views on this.
DM: Everyone should feel very good about his/her role thus far in this effort. It didn’t happen by itself. I’m personally proud that Flanagan and I, each unaware of the other’s efforts, took it upon ourselves to have S.88 drafted at a time when it seemed pointless. My view was that the idea that a good idea isn’t feasible is a self-fulfilling prophecy, and that an idea can’t be “off the table” as long as someone keeps putting it on the table. But even I am surprised by how this effort has caught fire.
Now we need to keep the support going strong. Constant LTEs! Constant contact with legislators. They need to know that the public doesn’t want a “moderate” compromise involving private insurance and government subsidies for private insurance, but that we want single payer universal access.