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By DANIEL BARLOW Vermont Press Bureau MONTPELIER – Rep. Tom Koch, a supporter of a free-market health care system, had an unlikely ally when he urged House lawmakers to vote against an omnibus health care reform bill Thursday afternoon. In arguing against a bill that would cap hospital budgets, expand the Blueprint for Health program […]

By Nancy Remsen, Free Press Staff Writer, BFP MONTPELIER — Dr. Deb Richter is accustomed to the slow pace of progress toward the health reform she favors, but she comes back to the Statehouse again and again to push for change. She was on hand Wednesday when senators took another small step. The Senate voted […]

Posted by Shay Totten Seven Days  Vermont’s effort to move ahead on health care reform is getting caught in a tug-of-war between three gubernatorial candidates, all of whom have a say in how bills move through the state senate. The Vermont senate’s gubernatorial trio failed last week to settle differences over a sweeping health care […]

Vermont lawmakers hear about singlepayer health care (BFP) MONTPELIER — An economist who helped Taiwan and other nations create their health care systems told Vermont lawmakers Thursday that a single-payer plan can lower costs, but is not necessarily a foolproof remedy. William Hsiao, an economics professor at Harvard University, testified before House and Senate health […]

By DANIEL BARLOW Vermont Press Bureau MONTPELIER – Sen. Doug Racine pitched his health care reform plan to the cash-strapped Senate Appropriations Committee Tuesday afternoon, facing one of his opponents in the upcoming Democratic primary for governor. Racine, a Chittenden County Democrat running for governor, is looking for about $400,000 to design three major health […]

Once upon a time By RICHARD DAVIS Brattleboro Reformer Once upon a time, there were two single payer health care bills floating in the Vermont House and Senate, H.100 and S.88. At the start of the legislative session, supporters of the bills had reason to believe they would be discussed in committee and that they […]

By DANIEL BARLOW VERMONT PRESS BUREAU MONTPELIER – Sen. Douglas Racine unveiled his long-awaited health care reform bill Tuesday, a proposal that would pave a path toward a state-financed system that covers all Vermonters regardless of income. Racine, the chairman of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee and a Democratic candidate for governor, said his […]

By Louis Porter Vermont Press Bureau There were two meetings in Washington D.C. on the health care system over the last week or so that could hardly have been more dissimilar in character. A majority of the members of the National Governors Association met a week ago Sunday to talk about attempts in their states […]

Burlington Free Press By Nancy Remsen, Free Press Staff Writer MONTPELIER — Consultants who analyzed administrative expenses for the public/private management of the state’s Catamount Health insurance product over the past two years concluded it might have cost $1 million less per year had the state run it. The Douglas administration disputes this conclusion. The […]

Addison Independent John Flowers MIDDLEBURY — While the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant and a tight state budget continue to generate most of the headlines out of the Statehouse, lawmakers continue to work quietly and methodically on another major issue: Health care reform. Local lawmakers provided an update on further health care reform efforts at […]