Letters

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 […]

Letters: The health care debate continues Bennington Banner   As the health care debate has unfolded over the past few months, I have been listening to the various opinions put forth, pro and con. Some people think that health care should be a privilege, a commodity, remain tied to a job, and to make sure […]

(Times Argus) I am sick and tired of our political process being hijacked by the lobbyists. It affects the wars, our environment, our food and our health care. I am sorry that so many people can be bought. Single-payer is the only way to go. Almost everything else is a Band-Aid on a broken system. […]

Times Argus Single payer is logical choice In the next session of the Legislature, S.88, a Single payer health care bill, will have hearings in the Senate Health and Welfare committee, chaired by Doug Racine. (The House Health committee has a similar bill, H.100, but Chairman Steve Maier has refused to hold hearings so far.) […]

Article published Oct 26, 2009 Rutland Herald Educate on single-payer   At a recent forum hosted by the Friends of the Ripton Church, physicians Jack Mayer of Middlebury and Jeff and Carrie Wulfman of Ripton, and Middlebury College professor Ellen Oxfeld stressed the urgent need for reforming American health care. Dr. Mayer summarized the essence […]

Letter published in the Times Argus on October 9, 2009:  I want to thank Louis Porter of the Vermont Press Bureau for his story Slow Pace of health care reform sparks ire about the health care as a human right forum held on Sept. 22 at the Montpelier High School. The article speaks for itself, […]

Seven Days [Re “The Doctor Won’t See You Now,” September 1]: I seem to recall that two of the biggest arguments against a single-payer health care solution were lack of choice and long wait times. Glad we dodged that bullet. Ian VanKirk Essex Junction

Times Argus To the Editor: We recently learned the federal government has notified the state of Vermont that the enrollment targets for all-payer model (and thus, OneCare) are “unattainable” and “unnecessary.” This is an entirely new way to set standards. Imagine if a professor or teacher tells her students they need to write three papers, […]