cmonfils | February 18, 2011
www.kaiserhelathnews.org
By Aimee Miles Feb 08, 2011
Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, who was elected last November after promising to reform health care in the state, unveiled a bill Tuesday that would abolish most forms of private health insurance and move state residents into a publicly funded insurance pool.
His much anticipated proposal lays out a strategy that leaves a number of key details—including how to pay for the system—open for debate. (more…)
Category: Vermont |
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cmonfils | January 12, 2011
www.boston.com
January 2, 2011
While Massachusetts grapples with its own health costs, the nation’s eyes will be on Vermont as it tries to do ObamaCare one better and switch to a single-payer health insurance system. The newly elected governor, Peter Shumlin, made single-payer a main campaign pledge. Now he has assembled a team of health officials grounded both in the realities of Vermont medical care and the pros and cons of comprehensive health reform. Shumlin’s special assistant for reform will be Anya Rader-Wallack, once an aide to former Vermont Governor Howard Dean and more recently deeply involved with the Massachusetts universal-coverage system.
Single payer, under which the government would take over all health insurance functions, has attracted many reform advocates because it simplifies health payments and reduces the overhead costs of a private insurance system that has to pay for marketing and, in some cases, shareholders’ dividends. Single-payer would also unlink insurance from employment, reducing a costly burden on companies and increasing workers’ flexibility in seeking new job opportunities. Hospitals and doctors have been wary of single-payer because two of the biggest payers in the current system — government-run Medicare and Medicaid — reimburse at rates that providers say are inadequate.
Any reform plan in Vermont will have to address that concern. More immediately, it will need waivers from the federal government to bring both Medicare and Medicaid into the one-payer system. The Obama administration should examine waiver requests closely to make sure they protect the needs of both patients and providers. But Vermont deserves the benefit of the doubt as it works its way toward becoming a laboratory of democracy on an issue — the unsustainably steep increase in health costs — that has proven intractable both for the nation at large and health-reform pioneer Massachusetts.
© Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.
Category: Health Care Legislation, Vermont |
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cmonfils | December 29, 2010
Single-payer proposal on Legislature’s menu
By Josh Goodman Stateline.org
Published: Sunday, December 26, 2010
WASHINGTON — Congress never really considered a single-payer health plan run by the government. Vermont is planning for one. This isn’t some liberal fantasy. Vermont lawmakers are serious. To understand how serious, you only have to look at the resumes of William Hsiao and Jonathan Gruber. (more…)
Category: Health Care Legislation, News, Vermont |
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Adam V. Russo | December 22, 2010
www.kentucky.com By JOSH GOODMAN Dec 20, 2010
WASHINGTON — Congress never really considered a single-payer health plan run by the government. Vermont is planning for one. This isn’t some liberal fantasy. Vermont lawmakers are serious. To understand how serious, you only have to look at the resumes of William Hsiao and Jonathan Gruber. (more…)
Category: Vermont |
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Adam V. Russo | February 4, 2009
Forty-seven states ban in-network providers from billing insured patients more than their required copayment or deductible and federal law prohibits providers from billing Medicare beneficiaries for unpaid balances. Some states also ban additional charges for insured patients who seek care from out-of-network providers and emergency departments. While national statistics on the practice are unavailable, economists and patient advocates estimate that consumers pay at least $1 billion annually for medical bills that they are not legally responsible to pay. (more…)
Category: California, Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont |
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