Editorials

Times Argus At his first inaugural, Franklin D. Roosevelt made his famous remark about fear being the enemy of change. The year was 1933 and the country was in the depths of the Great Depression. Government intervention was required to save people from joblessness and starvation. Now we are facing a similar — if less […]

VTDigger   Editor’s note: This commentary is by Peter Sterling, the director of Vermont Leads, a nonprofit organization working to educate the public about the advantages of implementing a publicly funded, universal access health care system in Vermont. I agree with the main point made by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont’s Don George: the […]

Brattleboro Reformer Last week it was announced that Vermont’s health insurance web site, Vermont Health Connect, was being taken offline line for two months to deal with security issues and to prepare for open enrollment in November. While some may look at this move as a reason to trash Vermont’s efforts at health care reform, […]

VTDigger Editor’s note: This commentary is by Walter Carpenter of Montpelier. Mr. Randy Brock’s parable “You Can’t Get There from Here,” (VTDigger 09/04/14) is a fairy tale employing the stereotypical “old Vermonter at the country store” telling newcomers how they “can’t get there from here” in buying health insurance in Vermont. A striking irony about […]

Rutalnd Herald Rep. Paul Ralston’s recent commentary, “Single-payer is the only campaign issue,” raises some understandable concerns about Vermont’s move to create a publicly funded, universal health care system. Fortunately, in 2011 the Legislature foresaw the need to have these questions answered as it had its debate over passing legislation to create Green Mountain Care. […]

Rutland Herald An op-ed piece appearing in these pages last Sunday has struck a nerve among advocates for the single-payer health care plan that is due to be unveiled this January. Paul Ralston, a Democratic House member from Middlebury who is not running for re-election, warned that the poor performance of Vermont Health Connect, the […]

Brattleboro Reformer As we head into the final lap of the biennial Vermont campaign season there is one topic that is begging for more debate. How should we finance a new single payer health care system? Political forums and debates have raised the simplistic question of whether or not a candidate is in favor of […]

VTDigger Editor’s note: This commentary is by Peter Sterling, the director of Vermont Leads, a nonprofit organization working to educate the public about the advantages of implementing a publicly funded, universal access health care system in Vermont. Rep. Paul Ralston’s commentary of Aug. 19, “Single-payer is the Only Campaign Issue,” raises some understandable concerns about […]

Rutland Herald In the middle of fretting about my upcoming cataract surgery — I am too young for this, I hope the surgeon knows what he’s doing, I hope that when it’s over I’ll see that all this worrying was unnecessary — I did something that seemed straightforward and easy: went to the drug store […]

Essex Reporter By Jack Hoffman Employer-sponsored health insurance is a misnomer. Money that an employer putatively “contributes” to a company health insurance plan is simply employee compensation in another form. The point is driven home in a recent column in the American Prospect by Paul Waldman about the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Hobby […]