Make Sure Shumlin Doesn’t Back Down

Rutland Herald In 2011, Vermont passed Act 48, setting us on the course to have the first universal, publicly financed health care system in the United States. This came about because hundreds of Vermont residents took action: contacting legislators, packing public hearings, testifying about the debilitating effects of the current health care system on their […]

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John McClaughry — an interesting read

Caledonian Recod McClaughry is always interesting to read. He researches his topics well, and always presents an interesting view of history. His latest thesis on Health Care Mutual Aid, (September 30, 2014), was one of many ways he tries to discredit the health care for all movement and, in particular, the Accountable Care Act, or […]

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It’s not so looney

St. Alban’s Messenger Emerson Lynn’s editorial “Vermont’s not so funny rendition of Looney Tunes, (St Albans Messenger 09/26/14), missed several key points about why Vermont’s progress toward single-payer is not so looney after all. Mr. Lynn said Vermonters must reach into their pockets “over $2 billion each year to pay for this untried system.” As […]

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Vermont Health Connect is Better for Vermont than the Federal Exchange

Caledonian Record Vermont Health Connect (VHC) made headlines when the state announced that it was taking down the web portal until further notice. While the policy reasons for taking this action were sound, this certainly was unwelcome news. Opponents of health care reform have used this decision to renew their call for Vermont to drop […]

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The Crying Need for Single Payer

Randolph Herald The letter “Single Payer Hurts Quality” (09/18/14) has some explaining to do.If “Economics 101 teaches that price controls always lead to scarcity and loss of quality,” as the writer suggests, then why do nations with global budgets and single-payer systems consistently turn in better quality care than we do? What does Economics 101 […]

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Health Editorial Missed the Point

The Herald of Randoloph As is typical of most of the comment about Vermont Health Connect and single payer, your editorial omits one fact: that citizens lack health insurance. Your editorial states that the reason the governor is pushing single payer is to control costs that crush small business. If that statement is even true […]

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Sanders not to blame

Rutland Herald A recent letter (“Single payer avoids problems,” Sept. 17) comes to the correct conclusion that single payer is the only way to guarantee health care for all in a cost-effective system. However, the letter seems to hold Sen. Bernie Sanders responsible for the passage of the Affordable Care Act instead of a national […]

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Recessive gene proved dominant

VTDigger Editor’s note: This commentary is by Chuck Gregory, who is a member of the Springfield Town Democratic Committee, a volunteer with the Vermont Workers’ Center, and Valley Court Diversion. Hindsight is always 20-20, but Republican Randy Brock’s recent VTDigger pieces — “Out of the Frying Pan,” (Aug. 6), an attempt to tarnish the reputation […]

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Vermont Health Connect not single-payer

Burlington Free Press The League of Women Voters of Vermont strongly supports universal, state-supported health care for Vermont. There seems to be a misconception that because Vermont Health Connect is having technical difficulties, administering a single-payer system will somehow be worse. There’s every reason in the world to believe the opposite is true. Under single […]

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How to get to free market

Rutland Herald Re: Randy Brock’s Sunday funny: A man and his family stopped their car in front of the general store and, spying an old Vermonter, called out, “We’re moving into town. Can you give us directions to where we can buy health insurance?” The old man thought for a moment and said, “You just […]

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