News

Vermont Digger  There’s a showdown in the Statehouse between two universal health care advocates who are seeking funding to move closer to single-payer health care in Vermont. Peter Sterling, the architect of Dr. Dynasaur 2.0, has persuaded the House to give his coalition $310,000 in state and federal money to study how to expand one […]

 Vermont Public Radio Lawmakers and administration officials abandoned their push for a single-payer health care system over a year ago. Advocates of a publicly funded program haven’t given up on the concept, however, and a new report could re-ignite a debate over whether to socialize portions of the health care system in Vermont.Dr. Deb Richter […]

VTDigger The No. 1 issues for lawmakers this year is how to pay for a growing gap between Medicaid spending and the state’s share of the cost. The Medicaid gap in the 2016 fiscal year is between $30 million and $40 million. (The number varies based on projections.) The state faces another gap of $50 […]

Rutland Herald: Just a few years ago, Vermont lawmakers in this left-leaning state viewed President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act as little more than a pit stop on the road to a far more ambitious goal: single-payer, universal health care for all residents. Then things unraveled. The online insurance marketplace that Vermont built to enroll people […]

The New York Times: April 10, 2015Where Government ExcelsBy Paul Krugman Like all advanced nations, America mainly relies on private markets and private initiatives to provide its citizens with the things they want and need, and hardly anyone in our political discourse would propose changing that. The days when it sounded like a good idea […]

Seven Days VT: As 2014 drew to a close, 24-year-old Alissa Carberry hoped that her insulin pump wouldn’t need to be replaced. Carberry has Type 1 diabetes, a chronic disease that requires expensive medication and constant monitoring. On paper, she was lucky: She had insurance through her employer, Burlington Children’s Space, so her monthly insurance premiums […]

VTDigger The House health care reform package has been revised downward to $52 million, according to figures from the legislative Joint Fiscal Office posted Friday. The package is supported by a 0.3 percent employer payroll tax, which is expected to raise $39 million, plus a 2 cent per ounce excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, which […]

Valley News By Rick JurgensValley News Staff Writer Hartland — About 20 people responded to a call from the Windsor County Democratic Committee and gathered in Damon Hall Monday evening to discuss how to keep the banner of health care reform raised during a period of state budget deficits and public skepticism fueled by the […]

VT Digger: A tri-partisan group of House lawmakers has introduced a bill that would publicly finance universal access to primary care services in Vermont. The bill, H.207, would create a dedicated Universal Primary Care Fund within the Treasury to make capitated payments to health care providers that would cover primary care for all Vermont residents. The […]

Seven Days VT:  It started as a three-story brick manor on 35 open acres overlooking downtown Burlington. With a $400,000 inheritance from her parents, Queen City resident Mary Martha Fletcher financed construction of the original hospital on the hill in 1879. The medical center has since mushroomed into a dense building complex. It has gobbled […]