Letters

Rutland Herald: Dr. Anna Carey’s recent commentary regarding our insurance/business-based health care system is very much to the point. Having an ACA exchange policy such as bronze, or even silver, mainly benefits the insurer, not the insured. If one can’t access health care due to the high cost of out-of-pocket expenses, how can it be considered […]

Valley News: A 60-year-old man, who I’ll call C.C., recently walked into my family medical practice. The nurse handed me a thin chart record. His last visit was five years before for a skin infection. Written across the top in large block letters were the words, “NO INSURANCE.” C.C. and I started talking. Over the […]

Rutland Herald: It’s easy to condemn the Jan. 8 sit-in at the State House by Vermont Workers Center members and other single-payer health care supporters. Practically speaking, the demonstration was counter-productive because it left Vermonters talking about tactics (disruption) rather than substance (health care.) Other longtime, knowledgeable and passionate backers of universal, state-sponsored care felt obliged […]

Valley News: To the Editor: John McClaughry’s Jan. 6 column (“Single-Payer Has Failed in Vermont — So What Next?”) was incorrect on the death of single-payer in Vermont. It is on hold; it is not deceased. While Mr. McClaughry did acknowledge this, the crying need for it is not going away. Mr. McClaughry suggests that […]

Commons News: Single-payer health insurance is not dead, contrary to recent headlines and the media spin on it.Those of us in the Legislature who have been working for decades to bring about this change are not that easily deterred. Despite Governor Peter Shumlin’s statement — “Now is not the time” — we will continue to […]

Times Argus: Thank you, Dr. Michael Scollins, for your letter to The Times Argus reminding us that as Rome wasn’t built in a day, a single-payer health care plan won’t be either. Reminding us of successful single-payer plans already in operation in this country like Social Security and Medicare show that it certainly can be done […]

Times Argus: Why are the costs for single payer so high? Right now, in Vermont at least, we have Medicaid for low income folks. Who pays for that? What were the startup costs for that? How is that sustainable? It seems to me that single payer — where we all pay in what we can […]

 Rutland Herald:  Regarding the Jan. 8 State House protests: We are in a nation that began with the likes of Sam Adams and the Sons of Liberty, and in a state established by the outlaw Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys, and some of us are concerned that the State House might witness further […]

 Times Argus:  Justice for all As a registered nurse, I am held responsible to follow a set of ethical principles that guide my work: non-maleficence (do no harm), beneficence (do good), respect for the autonomy of individuals, truthfulness, and justice. I am proud to be achieving the first four principles in my work, but to […]

 Rutland Herald: On Thursday, Jan. 8, I was arrested. I was taken into custody by state police for standing up for the rights of the people of Vermont. Hundreds of us from all over the state went to the State House to speak out for our human right to health care after the governor took it […]