The 802 Vermont Universal Health Care Coalition began to organize last September, said Deb Richter, president of the Board of Directors for Vermont Health Care for All.
Richter said the coalition is founded on the principle that everyone should have publicly funded health care, though it has not endorsed a specific plan for this, nor is it currently backing any specific piece of legislation.
People have pushed for universal health care in the past, Richter said. What’s different now is the severity of the situation, between the expiration of Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits and cuts to Medicaid from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed last summer.
“The situation is involving the majority of the Vermont population at this point. Every one now is being affected by rising costs, decreasing access; so this is not just affecting the other guy or a small percentage,” said Richter.
She said the population of under-insured people has risen in recent years. People with insurance plans are paying higher out-of-pocket costs and have deductibles so high they avoid seeing a doctor.
“If your insurance doesn’t cover you for the first $15,000 of your care, is that really insurance?” Richter said.
The coalition consists of American Civil Liberties Union-Vermont, American Federation of Teachers-Vermont, Public Assets Institute, Rights and Democracy-Vermont, Rural Vermont, Service Employees International Union Committee of Interns and Residents, Vermont Health Care for All, Vermont Public Interest Research Group, Vermont Racial Justice Alliance, and Vermont Workers’ Center.
“When you affect the majority of the middle class, you begin to get change. It comes from all directions. There is really no other way around this. We have got to change. We’ve got to stop treating health care as a privilege and it needs to be more of a public good,” said Richter.
She said the coalition will likely advocate for more specific things in 2027. The end of this week is when the House and Senate are expected to have completed their efforts on the bills they’ve been working on and send them to the other chamber.
The coalition stated in a release that Vermont’s health care system is “dangerously close to collapse,” with hospitals and primary care providers struggling.
Broadly, the coalition states that it supports the principles of: universality, public financing to replace private insurance, a system that in the absence of waivers wraps around existing federal programs, high quality health care, cost controls, and a phased-in approach provided each phase includes everyone.
“We demand that our state legislators take up legislation that will implement the principles laid out in existing statute (encoded through Act 48 of 2011) for universal, publicly financed health care,” the coalition stated.
“Locally and nationally, farmers identify healthcare as a significant issue affecting their farms, livelihoods, and communities,” Mollie Wills, director of grassroots organizing at Rural Vermont, stated in a news release. “The cost of health insurance is a major barrier to farming in Vermont, and despite working (one) of the most dangerous jobs, many farmers and farmworkers lack access to care. We need to come together to implement a universal healthcare system as quickly and effectively as possible.”
The current system doesn’t work well for patients or providers, stated Nicole DiVita, president for healthcare at AFT Vermont: “It’s time to end a system that treats healthcare as a profit center and build a system that guarantees our right to publicly funded healthcare where workers are treated with respect and as partners in determining how proper care is delivered.” 802 Vermont Universal Health Care Coalition isn’t the only group that’s formed in response to rising health care costs.
VT Healthcare 911, a group of leaders in the business and nonprofit sectors, including former lawmakers, marked its first year of operation several weeks ago with a report on the state of health costs in Vermont.
802 Vermont Universal Health Care Coalition and VT Healthcare 911 are not affiliated.
The VT Healthcare 911 report, available online at vhc911.org, takes a look at hospital spending and other health care cost related issues. Its authors said they intend for it to be a tool for lawmakers not entirely steeped in the background to the state’s health care woes. They claim it’s been used by policymakers and others and note the Green Mountain Care Board, which regulates hospital budgets, has released draft guidance asking hospitals to budget for a minus-1% commercial reimbursement rate growth this coming budget cycle.
“All Vermonters deserve health care as a human right, and it’s time for the state to follow through on the obligation it made 15 years ago,” stated Alison Nihart, of Rights and Democracy-Vermont/New Hampshire, a member of the 802 Vermont Universal Health Care Coalition. “The legislature has multiple viable pathways to reach universal coverage. It should not be a question of whether it should happen, but rather how to most quickly and effectively implement a universal system.”
keith.whitcomb@rutlandherald.com