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By DANIEL BARLOW Vermont Press Bureau MONTPELIER – People thought James Haslam was crazy for thinking that Vermont lawmakers would debate a major health care reform bill this year. But after hundreds turned out last week for an impassioned Statehouse hearing on health care, the hopes of the executive director of Burlington’s Vermont Workers Center […]

By DANIEL BARLOW VERMONT PRESS BUREAU MONTPELIER – Hundreds of Vermonters filled the Statehouse Tuesday for a public forum on health care reform, with a vast majority urging lawmakers to adopt a single-payer system. The Vermont Legislature’s two health care committees scheduled the forum to get direction from residents as they prepare to study a […]

Bianca Slota – WCAX News Scanning the Vermont House chamber Tuesday night it was pretty obvious which side of the healthcare debate most of the attendees were on. A majority of the more than 120 people who signed up to speak during the joint hearing of the House Health committee and Senate Health and Welfare […]

By Kevin O’Connor STAFF WRITER (TA) Richard Davis didn’t want knee replacement surgery four days after Christmas. But having already paid $2,700 of his $3,000 annual health insurance deductible, the 60-year-old Vermonter didn’t want a bigger bill with the start of this new year. Do I pay $300 now or $3,000 later? the Guilford man […]

Workers Lobby for Single Payer Health Care (VPR) (Host) Several hundred people went to the Statehouse today to lobby for a single payer health care system. Legislative leaders promised they would explore the single payer approach, but they didn’t commit to having a vote on the issue this year. VPR’s Bob Kinzel reports. (Kinzel) The […]

Rally for health care reform in Vermont (WCAX) A coalition of organizations rallied Wednesday at the Vt. Statehouse urging lawmakers to push for health reform on the state level. About 80 people– from nurses and teachers unions to health care nonprofit organizations– arrived with 4,000 postcards supporting a single-payer system to insure every Vermonter. Lawmakers […]

Time Argus By DANIEL BARLOW Vermont Press Bureau MONTPELIER – Vermont lawmakers will begin a new year of health care reform discussions with a massive public hearing at the Statehouse in early January. The chairmen of the House and Senate health care committees will convene a public hearing on the evening of Tuesday, Jan. 12, […]

Fair GameBy Shay Totten [Seven Days] The jaw-dropping $6.8 million retirement package [1] awarded to the outgoing president and chief executive officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont may have been illegal, according to the state’s top insurance regulator. The finding was issued last month by Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration commissioner […]

Burlington Free Press My Turn: Vermont must lead on health care By James Haslam At a public forum on health care in White River Junction, Dave Reynolds, the health care representative from Sen. Bernie Sanders’ office, compared an American hospital with a Canadian hospital. Both hospitals had 900 beds; both were in urban centers and […]