Rally for health care reform in Vermont (WCAX)
A coalition of organizations rallied Wednesday at the Vt. Statehouse urging lawmakers to push for health reform on the state level.
About 80 people– from nurses and teachers unions to health care nonprofit organizations– arrived with 4,000 postcards supporting a single-payer system to insure every Vermonter. Lawmakers are looking at a number of plans but make no guarantee about taking action this session.
"It is time for change!" said Sarah Launderville, of the Vermont Center for Independent Living. "We all understand the system is broken. We are here to invest our dollars in a new system in which people are treated with full respect and dignity. Health care as a human right is not just a catchy phrase: it is the truest form of investing in and protecting ourselves so that we and our children can live with the decency that we deserve."
Wednesday afternoon Gov. Jim Douglas, R-Vermont, again repeated his opposition to a single-payer system in Vermont. Douglas pointed out that for two years in a row Vermont has been ranked the healthiest state in the nation and even the Obama administration has held out Vermont’s health care programs as models for the other states.
Brian Joyce – WCAX News