By Matt Holderman
MIDDLEBURY, Vt. (ABC22/FOX44) – Voters in at least eight towns are weighing whether or not they want to advise the Vermont Legislature to move forward with a bill that could establish a universal healthcare system in the state.
If passed and signed into law, H.433 would incrementally implement “Green Mountain Care”, a publicly financed healthcare program for all Vermonters. The bill caught the attention of some people in Middlebury, who successfully petitioned to place an item on their upcoming Town Meeting Day ballot related to the idea. Now, if the majority of Middlebury votes in favor of the measure, it would signify the town calling on the Vermont Legislature to take action on the bill immediately.
“We have to really focus our attention on making sure that every healthcare dollar is spent for healthcare,” said Dr. Jack Mayer, a retired pediatrician who co-led the grassroots petitioning effort.
The first part of Green Mountain Care that would go into effect would be universal primary care, with dental and vision following the second year the system is active. For the next eight years after that, additional healthcare services would be added one-by-one until Vermont has its entirely own universal healthcare system.
The idea has been a collaborative effort between state representatives from all three major political parties: Democrat “Coach” Kevin Christie, Republican Francis “Topper” McFaun, and Progressive Brian Cina. Furthermore, it would follow some of the principles of Act 48, a bill similarly aimed at creating a universal healthcare system which passed the Vermont Legislature in 2011, but was put on pause by Governor Peter Shumlin in 2014.
“The promise of Act 48 was never fulfilled,” said Rep. Cina in an interview Tuesday. “What this bill would do is establish a public good of universal primary care, ASAP. Investment in primary care saves money on the more costly interventions that come when people don’t have access to primary care.”
“Universal healthcare is not a failed experiment, it’s an aborted experiment,” Rep. Cina continued. “It’s a prime moment for us to go back to that vision and think about healthcare not as a commodity, but rather a public good, a public asset that we need to invest in.”
For Dr. Mayer, Green Mountain Care would answer a call he’s had for the better part of 50 years. Dr. Mayer worked as a pediatrician in Vermont for more than 40 years, caring for children in Franklin and Addison counties during his career. That entire time, he says he’s been a staunch advocate for universal healthcare, and can remember multiple instances where his patients suffered because their families couldn’t afford the high costs of care under the United States’ current system.
“He came to my office, he had meningitis. I could’ve treated this kid three days earlier … They couldn’t afford to bring him. They had to look in their wallet first before bringing their child in for care,” Dr. Mayer said, reminiscing on one case from early in his career.
Although the Green Mountain Care bill was introduced in 2025, lawmakers never took it up for a vote, which is why Dr. Mayer and others created their petition to call upon the legislature to finally act on it. Ellen Oxfeld, a professor at Middlebury College and another co-leader of the petition push, said she wasn’t sure if they’d be able to collect the signatures of at least 5% of Middlebury residents, which is the minimum amount to get something added to the Town Meeting Day ballot. But as it turned out, she said it took them fewer than two weeks to get that much support.
“Wherever we went with our petition, and we explained what it was about, people could not sign it fast enough,” Oxfeld said. “People are really concerned right now about the healthcare issue.”
Voters in multiple other towns felt the same way, with more than 5% of people living in Bristol, Salisbury, Cornwall, Weybridge and Putney signing that same petition, getting the call on their Town Meeting Day ballots as well. According to Dr. Mayer, it’s a similar situation in Brandon and New Haven too, only those towns will take up the matter during their in-person Town Meetings via floor vote or voice vote rather than by Australian ballot.
Town Meeting Day is Tuesday, March 3, and if these measures pass in each town, universal healthcare advocates hope the Vermont Legislature takes notice.