News

Modern Healthcare: Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin stunned the healthcare policy world last week when he announced the state was scrapping plans to create a single-payer system. The state said the economics didn’t work, but not everyone is convinced. “This is all politics,” said Gerald Friedman, a healthcare economist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. […]

Valley News: The push for health care reform in Vermont entered a new phase last week, when Gov. Peter Shumlin announced that he would abandon his attempt to design a system that used broad-based taxes and other public sources to replace premiums paid by employers and employees. The sticker shock of the necessary taxes and […]

Vermont Digger: Gov. Peter Shumlin says speculation that his decision to abandon plans to move forward with a single payer program after the election was not politically motivated. The governor announced on Dec. 17 that he would pull the plug on his signature universal publicly financed health care program because the cost would be prohibitive. […]

Rutland Herald: The political ascendance of Peter Shumlin came thanks in part to support from the Progressive Party. But the Democratic governor’s decision to shelve single-payer health care last week could shatter that alliance. One of the first calls Shumlin made after announcing his stunning reversal on single-payer health care was to Burlington Rep. Chris Pearson. […]

Note: VTHCA does not think single payer has fallen apart for Vermont, only that we need to find a way forward to implement it in stages.  However, this is a good news analysis of the most recent events. VOX.com: It was Friday, December 12, when Robin Lunge began worrying that Vermont’s single-payer plan was doomed. Lunge, […]

Times Argus: MONTPELIER — After Gov. Peter Shumlin dropped his long-sought goal of a universal, publicly funded health care system last week, key members of his health care team immediately got back to work picking up less ambitious pieces of the plan. Appearing Wednesday before reporters and two boards that had advised him, the second-term […]

Offical Response from Vermont for Single Payer on Governor Shumlin’s announcement not to put forth a financing plan for Green Mountain Care and to delay the transition to a single payer health care system in Vermont This week’s announcement by Governor Shumlin not to proceed with Act 48 as outlined was a major disappointment to […]

WDEV The Mark Johnson Show: Governor Shumlin discusses decision to not pursue a single-payer health care system. Listen to the one hour interview with  Mark Johnson.

Rutland Herald: MONTPELIER — Reaction was plentiful Wednesday to Gov. Peter Shumlin’s announcement that he would not pursue his signature policy goal of a single-payer health care system for the state. Advocates who favored his dream of a universal, publicly financed health care system expressed disappointment, while opponents said they were pleased the policy was being […]

Rutland Herald: MONTPELIER — Gov. Peter Shumlin swiftly and abruptly abandoned his longtime pledge to deliver a single-payer health care system to Vermonters on Wednesday, citing the “enormous” 11.5 percent payroll tax it would levy on Vermont’s small businesses and a financing system that would run deficits just a few years into the program. Shumlin […]