Editorials

VT Digger:  Stephen Brill’s new book “Bitter Pill” further elaborates on his Time Magazine article in spring 2013 entitled, “America’s Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us.” Brill explains in detail why hospitals are a big part of the problem. The University of Vermont Medical Center, formerly called Fletcher Allen, offers services at prices that […]

Rutland Herald: Although the governor put single payer on hold, this does not mean Vermont cannot move toward this goal in other ways. The misnamed Affordable Care Act cannot, and will not, do this job. Perhaps a more appropriate nomenclature for the ACA (or Obamacare, as it is known) would be the analogy given to it […]

Rutland Herald: How do you kill a bull with a red rag? Wendy Wilton (“Getting facts on health exchange,” March 22) knows how: You wave it in the bull’s face and while he rages at it, you stab him between the shoulder blades. Wilton’s recent piece on questions the state auditor should ask about Vermont Health […]

Vermont Standard “This is not reformism and being incremental in the Obamacare vein by any stretch of the imagination because it is a change in our current system of looking at health care as a private commodity. Instead, these bills would establish health care as a public good and for everyone, regardless of age, income, […]

VT Digger: Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Ellen Oxfeld, a member of the boards of the single payer advocacy groups Vermont Health Care for All and Vermont Leads. She lives in Middlebury. Two new bills (H.207 and S.88) have been introduced with tri-partisan co-sponsorship (Democrat, Republican and Progressive in the House version). They hold the […]

Vermont Digger: Editor’s note: This commentary is by Falko Schilling, who is a consumer protection advocate with the Vermont Public Interest Research Group. Recently we’ve seen all sorts of conspiracy theories about why Gov. Shumlin decided to shelve his top legislative priority – the universal health care plan. As one who worked closely with citizens, […]

Rutland Herald: As someone who for the past 25 years has owned, advised or worked closely with a Vermont business, I know firsthand how confusing our health care system is for employers. But here’s the most confusing aspect of all: Over the past three years, hospital budget growth has been kept at 3 percent, the lowest […]

St.Albans Messenger: As someone who for the past 25 years has owned, advised or worked closely with a Vermont business, I know firsthand how confusing our health care system is for employers. But here’s the most confusing aspect of all: Over the past three years, hospital budget growth has been kept at 3 percent, the lowest […]

Times Argus: The decision to not move forward with a public financing system for health care in Vermont was an incredibly difficult one, and it was not taken lightly. The charge that we essentially cooked the books for political purposes is both absurd and insulting. There are many difficult trade-offs in designing a new health care […]

Rutland Herald: Gov. Peter Shumlin’s decision to suspend moving forward on the financing package for single payer in the coming legislative session does not mean that the dream of health care as a public good in Vermont is dead. At his press conference announcing his decision not to pursue single-payer financing in 2015, the governor stated […]