Editorials

Addison County Independent: Gov. Shumlin announced last Wednesday that “it is not the right time” to introduce a single-payer health care system in Vermont. He said he would not propose such a plan to the Legislature in 2015. A version of a financing plan for single-payer that was leaked to the press earlier this month […]

Vermont Digger: Editor’s note: This commentary is by Terry Doran, who is co-author (with Con Hogan and Deb Richter) of “At the Crossroads: The Future of Health Care in Vermont” and “Gridlock: The Unhealthy Politics of Health Care in Vermont.” He lives in Montpelier. It’s no surprise that Gov. Shumlin decided against presenting a financing […]

Rutland Herald: Last week, I made one of the most difficult decisions of my public life when I announced that I cannot support a move to a publicly financed health care system in Vermont at this time. I have advocated for such a system for much of my public life, but over the past two weeks, […]

Rutland Herald: The governor shocked the political world this past Wednesday by announcing his administration is no longer supporting a tax package to publicly finance health care. The plan had been to eliminate insurance companies and the roughly $3 billion we Vermonters pay them each year in the form of deductibles, premiums, co-pays, etc., with an […]

Rutland Herald: I moved to Vermont more than 15 years ago to practice medicine and to engage in an educational, and ultimately political effort to achieve universal, publicly funded health care in one small state. The prospect of such reform happening at the federal level had always seemed very dim. The prospect just got dimmer in […]

Rutland Herald Editorial: Gov. Peter Shumlin upended Vermont politics Wednesday when he announced he would abandon his plan to introduce single-payer health care in the coming year. He crushed the hopes of supporters and touched off a jubilant round of I-told-you-sos among opponents. The upshot is that, for now, establishment of a publicly financed, universal health […]

Brattleboro Reformer: One of the primary reasons that Vermont is poised to become the first state to enact a single-payer health insurance system is because of about 25 years of grass-roots activism. A solid core of single-payer supporters have created the foundation that Gov. Shumlin and the Legislature can now build upon. Over the years, those […]

 Rutland Herald: Vermont has long been a leader in providing quality health care coverage, and now we have an opportunity as a state to demonstrate how to deliver an affordable and comprehensive universal health care system. This system could potentially save Vermonters half a billion dollars a year in overall health care costs, which is great […]

Vermont Digger: Editor’s note: Rep. James Masland, a Democrat, lives in Thetford and has represented District 2 in Windsor and Orange counties since 1998. He was director of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns from 1991 to 1998. The Vermont Legislature is poised to begin the task of reviewing and evaluating the advisability a […]

 VT Digger: Vermont has long been a leader in providing quality health care coverage, and now we have an opportunity as a state to demonstrate how to deliver an affordable and comprehensive universal health care system. This system could potentially save Vermonters half a billion dollars a year in overall health care costs, which is great […]