Vermonters 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 health care needs. A universal health care system would not be driven by profit and would therefore make patient care its core mission.
Another concern raised in this video is that doctors will flee Vermont. I disagree. Doctors practice medicine with the intent of helping and healing people. What better place to practice medicine than a place where a patients’ ability to pay is never an issue? I think that doctors will flock to Vermont!
Lastly, the video decries the universal healthcare law as socialism and that it will limit personal freedom. To that I say, there is no greater freedom than the freedom from fear. Fear that I will get sick and not be able to pay for my own care. Fear of looking for meaningful, fulfilling work because I might not be able to get health insurance at a new workplace. Healthcare for all is one more step toward a truly free society.
CINDY TAYLOR