This would suggest that a country that combines a single payer with a mostly public delivery system stands the best chance of delivering high quality health care at a reasonable price.

By Diane Golding, Saxtons River, VT
The only plan we could afford was the high deductible one ($5,000 stacked). We decided to apply for Catamount Health coverage but in order to do so we had to be off Blue Cross Blue Shield for 1 year. We took the risk

By Donald Bodwell, Brandon My wife and I are retired teachers from CT, and we have to purchase health insurance through our last employer for seven more years until age 65. The cost of that family policy is $1,660 per month, offset $400 by subsidies from the Retirement Board and the collective bargaining agreement, which […]

Karen Klotz, Hardwick My husband and I are currently spending $179.00/month to purchase health insurance through my employer and still have to pay a $4,000 deductible before anything is paid for. Because of this we never go to the doctor for preventative care because we know we will have to pay for it. If we […]

Ellen Powell, South Burlington I am keeping fingers and toes crossed for single Payer in VT because I live on the edge of poverty and my health insurance relies on how many college students sign up for bass lessons at SUNY Plattsburgh each semester. If I don’t get enough, I don’t get health insurance. At […]

Peggy Sapphire, Craftsbury My husband and I have Medicare & Aetna, but Aetna has no preferred provider network in Vermont. We live in VT on a fixed Social Security pension. Five years ago my husband was diagnosed with bladder cancer. His treatment began with a Barre,VT urologist, and within 2 years we’d incurred such significant […]

Tara Meyer, Nurse Practitioner, Burlington I was in my last semester of my Family Nurse Practitioner program at UVM. Vermont has a program called Ladies First, which basically covers some preventive care (like mammograms) for women without health insurance. When I was a new student I thought this was great– “Wow, in Vermont, all women […]

Gina Mazer, Montpelier I have a chronic, genetic illness called Gaucher’s Disease, which means I need to receive an infusion of an enzyme that I am missing on a monthly or twice a month basis, at the hospital. This replacement enzyme (called Cerezyme) is extremely expensive, so much so that if my insurance has a […]

Alice Bleachy, Calais I am on a very expensive brand name drug for which there is no generic equivalent. The insurance company has dropped this drug from its formulary for 2010. The alternative nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories in their formulary are untried by me and are also expensive. The cost of this drug is so high that […]

Anonymous I want to highlight some examples of how easy it is to be marginalized from access to healthcare in the State of Vermont. As someone who has an auto-immune disease I can not risk losing my insurance. At present I am eligible for coverage under my partner’s employer, but without that option I would […]