Editorials

VTDigger Editor’s note: This commentary is by Allan Ramsay, MD, who has been a family physician in Vermont for 38 years. He is currently medical director of the People’s Health and Wellness Clinic in Barre. Dr. Ramsay was a member of the Green Mountain Care Board from 2011-2016. As the 2018 Vermont legislative session begins, […]

Burlington Free Press By Mary Gerisch Two years ago, Bernie Sanders introduced a Medicare for All bill that would move the U.S. toward a single-payer healthcare system. He didn’t get a single co-sponsor.Wednesday, the Vermont independent will introduce his latest version of the bill. Let’s clear up a few myths about Vermont’s efforts to enact […]

VTDigger Editor’s note: This commentary is by Mary Gerisch, of Bennington, who is a retired civil rights attorney. She is an active leader and board member of Rights & Democracy and is also on the board of the National Center for Law and Economic Justice. Let’s clear up a few myths about Vermont’s efforts to […]

Burlington Free Press We have the jaw-dropping situation in which a congressional majority is attempting to deprive 22-23 million Americans of health-care coverage – while the rest of the advanced world guarantees this coverage to everyone of its citizens. To make things even more perverse, an overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens want this coverage – […]

VTDigger This commentary is by Jessica Early of Burlington, who is a registered working nurse and family nurse practitioner. She is also a health care justice organizer for Rights & Democracy, a grassroots organization working to build strong communities grounded in health care, economic and environmental justice in Vermont and New Hampshire. Mike Smith’s June […]

VPR Commentary Winston Churchill once quipped that, You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else. I like that quote because it allows me to be cautiously optimistic that in the end, the current chaotic health care debate may actually result in a Medicare-for-All, single payer system. […]

Rutland Herald Brenda PATOINE Back in January, as the Republican controlled U.S. Congress was threatening to gut Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act), Vermonters and Americans everywhere rallied en masse in protest. In Burlington, more than 1,000 people packed into a high school auditorium, crowding the aisles and holding signs to support the Save Our Healthcare […]

Vermont Digger Regardless of what Congress plans to do with the Affordable Care Act, Vermont must develop its own solutions to protect those who may lose their health insurance or Medicaid coverage. Finding the right way to support our fellow citizens in a time of need is a Vermont tradition. Assuring that every Vermonter has […]

 Vermont Digger Editor’s note: This commentary is by Deborah Richter, M.D., a practicing physician who lives in Montpelier. For the past 25 years, Vermont has searched for ways to better manage health care costs. In all that time a solution – one that has worked everywhere it has been tried – has been overlooked: Make […]

Burlington Free Press  A publicly financed universal health care system (single payer) removes health insurers as the “middleman,” reduces administrative complexity and paperwork costs, and by removing barriers to health care, gets us to the doctor earlier, when our conditions are less serious. Although Gov. Shumlin pressed the pause button on single payer in 2014, […]