Letters

  My fellow physician, Dr. C.W. Cobb, asserts in his recent letter that under a single-payer system physicians would be taken for granted (Single-payer takes doctors for granted, March 30). Yes, single-payer systems take doctors for granted. They take for granted our education, training and experience. They take for granted our dedication to our patients. […]

  The recent WCAX news report on the meeting between IBM and other business executives and Gov. Peter Shumlin provided a chilling reminder of how government usually functions in the United States. The executives are shown entering the governor’s office smiling and bristling with confidence, and perhaps even a little arrogance, that they are the […]

Burlington Free Press Our current health care system is severely broken. We all know that. It is flagrantly wasteful of money. It is painfully unjust. The H.202 single-payer bill holds out the promise of being cost effective, and of fair solutions, e.g. equal access to health care regardless of diagnosis or social class. I urge […]

Rutland Herald Bill is major step forward Since 1993 the League of Women Voters of the U.S. has had an advocacy position calling for a national health insurance plan financed through general taxes. Until that happens, the LWV of Vermont believes a state program can and should provide such health care to the residents of […]

Rutland Herald I am writing this letter after reading John McClaughry’s column, “Single-payer: promise and reality.” John has got it wrong. As usual when people of his political belief try to justify their position, many times fear of the unknown is used to defend their argument. In H.202, as it passed out of the House […]

Rutland Herald    A lot of static is being generated to blind Vermonters to the truth of the universal health care program being developed in our Legislature. One of the biggest boogie men is the Canadian system, where people supposedly wait weeks for care and months for surgery. If any of this were accurate, how […]

(Rutland Herald) When all else fails, make people afraid of change. That apparently is the strategy of many opponents of any “universal” health care plan. For example, at a recent meeting at the Statehouse that I attended, an anesthesiologist compared universal coverage for Vermonters as leading the way to dictatorships similar to Hitler, Mao and […]

Burlington Free Press The Vermont House took bold and necessary action on March 24 by passing the universal health care bill, H.202. There are many businesses in this state that support reform because they believe the current health care system is unsustainable, inefficient and unfair. Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility is one statewide business association […]

End corporate gamesmanship (RH) Your calm and insightful editorial on the hysterical nature of opposition to the single-payer debate was much appreciated. It’s interesting to note that as the debate unfolds, the supposed ills of single-payer, as put forward by the insurance industry — long delays in treatment, cost, lack of consumer choice — are […]

Rutland Herald I appreciate the paper’s good report on the hearings held on March 14 across the state of Vermont. Each person who testified was limited to two minutes. Most of us spoke from our hearts and our own experience and therefore the timing was not precise. I was not able to finish my testimony […]