Editorials

Rutland Herald The University of Massachusetts Medical School released the fourth Vermont single-payer health care study done since 2001. Each has confirmed that both health care security and substantial savings are possible. UMass makes perhaps the most compelling case for single-payer of them all. Without reform, Vermonters in 2017 will be paying more than $2 […]

Brattleboro Reformer Last Thursday a report was released by two consulting firms hired to run the numbers for Vermont’s universal health care system, Green Mountain Care (GMC), to begin in 2017. It marks the beginning of a new era in Vermont health care reform. The 156 page document, titled Health Care Reform Financing Plan, submitted […]

Rutland Herald A new report on the projected savings of single-payer health care in Vermont represents a green light for planners putting together the new system. The report from the University of Massachusetts Medical School confirms the working assumptions contained in previous studies: that a new health care system could save many millions of dollars, […]

Times Argus  [Note: This article was published under the title:  The Benefits of Obamacare to Vermont] Kudos to the grant writers at Vermont’s Dept. of Health Access for obtaining $156 million from the federal government to assist with the implementation of the health exchange, the new insurance marketplace scheduled to go online in October, 2013 […]

Burlington Free Press As director since 2000 of a program whose mission is to help the uninsured and underinsured stay healthy, I was concerned with Gov. Shumlin’s recent comments saying that “state health care subsidies for working class Vermonters might be more generous than they need to be, and that some residents here could soon […]

VTDigger By Richard Davis Just because Vermont is a leader in health care reform does not mean the state can step backward and hide behind the budget when it comes to people’s lives. Politics and the games that are played in that realm are generally driven by budgets. That is a fact of life. Unfortunately, […]

Burlington Free Press Tuesday’s election victories by President Barack Obama and Gov. Peter Shumlin ensures that the experiment to extend access to health care will move forward. The nation and the state face many challenges including shoring up the economy and finding a way to pay for the services people need and expect of government. […]

By Dr. Marvin Malek In their efforts to thwart Vermont’s health reform effort, opponents of reform are peppering the media with scare tactics. Prominent on this list is the assertion that if we proceed with the reform effort, huge numbers of physicians will exit the state. As a practicing physician, I know that our decisions […]

by Dr. Marvin Malek The mudslinging that passes for a health policy debate between the presidential candidates must be almost incomprehensible to those who don’t follow the health issue closely, and can only be viewed as bizarre by those who do. Each is accusing the other of proposing policies that will destroy the Medicare program. […]

by Wendell Potter When I read that Fletcher Allen Health Care and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center were forming a new for-profit entity to administer Vermonters’ Medicare benefits, one thing leapt off the screen: the term “for-profit.” As someone who worked for two of the country’s largest for-profit health insurers over nearly 20 years, I know how […]