Montpelier, Vermont - February 8, 2011
A health care check up in Vermont shows 47,000 Vermonters don't have insurance and health care costs have doubled in the last eight years.
"Health care costs too much," said Anya Rader Wallack, the health care advisor to Gov. Peter Shumlin.
So Shumlin, D-Vermont, and his team want to scrap everything, and they laid out a plan to create a single-payer system where everyone is covered by the same insurance provider.
"We are wasting money," Wallack said. "Too much of the enormous amount we pay goes to administration, duplication, unnecessary or unproven care or inefficient care delivery."
It would take time. The plan is to have a single-payer system in place in three years, spending the next few years laying the groundwork.
The first step-- set up a regulatory board to oversee everything. Next, the state would offer state-supervised coverage to the uninsured. Then the state would transition all Vermonters to that same health plan.
"We aren't going to tell you the details in part because we have to learn and implement these as we are able to make recommendations," Wallack said.
And that's what people on all sides of this debate pounced on; the lack of detail. One big question-- who pays and how much? The governor's team ignored that saying they will come up with a way to pay for the changes in two years. Business groups say right now the plan does not add up.
"This proposal is short on specifics when it comes to the financing mechanism, and that is something that needs to be brought into the conversation," said Betsy Bishop of the Vt. Chamber of Commerce.
Health care providers agree.
"This plan as a roadmap-- the state has done a 180 on hospitals and doctors and is balancing the budget on the backs of the people who are providing the care and it's creating a trust issue for us," said Bea Grause of the Vt. Hospitals Association.
Even if the plan details and funding come together the state still needs approval from the federal government to make the changes. And if that doesn't happen soon, Vermont could not put single-payer in place until 2017. But single-payer advocates say this is a start.
"I am very, very pleased this day has come where we are sitting down and working to have the state of Vermont move toward a single-payer system," said Rep. Paul Poirier, I-Barre City.
While a lot of people have a lot of questions, Democratic legislative leaders have put the health care bill on the fast track. The goal is for the House to pass it the week after Town Meeting Day and the Senate to give it's OK before lawmakers go home this year.
Kristin Carlson - WCAX News
