Letters

Rutland Herald Replying to our March 4 letter, Ralph Colin asks us to explain how an individual state can adopt a single-payer health plan without overthrowing the federal government or eliminating the requirement that businesses contribute toward health insurance (or health care) for their employees. Neither we nor any single-payer supporters we know advocate overthrowing […]

Rutland Herald It should be clear now that whatever anemic health care bill President Obama wrings out of Congress will be a mockery of the thoroughgoing reform he promised during his campaign. The bill may include a few improvements to the current system, but there is no chance that it will achieve the goal of […]

Times Argus We have more than enough evidence that a single-payer system is the most fiscally conservative way to cover all Americans, yet Congress has refused to consider it seriously. People are dying from lack of access, businesses are failing while trying to pay for benefits for their employees and the U.S. economy is straining […]

Letter to the Editor (TA) It is now apparent that if any type of health care bill manages to come out of Congress, it will be so eviscerated that any attempt to call it reform would be ludicrous. Therefore it is imperative that Vermont takes the lead with its own healthcare reform in the form […]

Times Argus The Wall Street debacle cost trillions in undisclosed arrangements over and above the bailout-TARP funds which caught the public eye. None of the government intervention has addressed the underlying issues hindering the economy. One wonders if the house of financial cards will collapse again tomorrow or the day after. Furthermore, how we are […]

Times Argus Having attended the public health care forum on Jan. 12 at the Statehouse, I couldn’t disagree more with Hannah Vallerand’s complaints concerning single-payer whiners. I did not testify at the hearing, but feel compelled to do so now. First of all, a significant number of persons who testified were professionals in the health […]

Affording Single Payer (BFP) This is how we can afford single-payer health care: 1. The U.S. pays $8,160 per capita for health care, two times more than other industrialized countries. 2. Thirty percent of the money spent on health care goes to administration. We pay $350 billion per year to shuffle papers for multiple insurance […]

Right time to take up health care reform (BFP) I would like to respond to the Burlington Free Press editorial Premature to take up health care in Vermont in the Dec. 20 edition. The editorial said that the push to reform the state’s health care system is misguided and premature given the uncertainty of reform […]

By Rep. Sandy Haas (The Prog Blog) In his December 16 St. Albans Messenger editorial, Emerson Lynn asserted that the Vermont legislature should not “waste time” talking about health care reform. That, of course, is the position of the 40 Republicans in the U.S. Senate, who voted to prevent debate a health insurance reform bill. […]

Letters to the Editor (BFP) Keep reform focus on single-payer bills Rep. Paul Poirier is considering a bill that would require all Vermonters who are not covered by Medicare, Medicaid or other public programs to purchase private insurance. However, to call this proposal a single-payer proposal, or even to say that it might lead to […]