Friday, April 29, 2011
Vermont State Senate gives initial approval to universal health care
MONTPELIER — Sen. Peter Galbraith, D-Windham, ran for the state Senate to be able to support a bill setting Vermont on a course toward a more consolidated health care system guaranteeing coverage to every Vermonter, he said Monday.
“This is a historic day,” Galbraith declared just before he joined 20 other senators to give preliminary approval to the health reform bill.
The 21-8 vote split largely along party lines. One Republican — Sen. Kevin Mullin, R-Rutland — voted with the Democrats and two Democrat/Progressives to support the bill, which Mullin helped write as a member of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee.
One Democrat — Sen. Robert Starr, D-Essex/Orleans — joined the seven Republicans who voted against the measure.
Senators continue debate on the legislation this morning with the final vote expected by the end of the day.
The contrasting political views regarding the bill were spelled out during the debate by Sen. Claire Ayer, D-Addison, who has shepherded the bill through the Senate as chairwoman of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, and Sen. Joe Benning, R-Caledonia.
They agreed only on the fact that the current health-care system is broken.
“Doing nothing is not an option,” Ayer argued.
“Change is needed because the present system cannot be financially sustained,” Benning said. “The issue that divides us is how that change should be made.”
Ayer described the bill, a version of which the House already has passed, as a “business plan for unified and universal health care in Vermont.” The bill outlines a process that will unfold over several years, she noted. The Legislature will have future opportunities to decide whether it’s feasible to move to Green Mountain Care, the government-run health coverage program the bill envisions.
Benning disputed Ayer’s characterization.
“This bill is being sold to us as just a road map to see where we should take health care,” he said. “Respectfully, I must disagree, because this bill establishes protocols and gives specific directions, which are marching us toward doubling our state budget. I have grave reservations.”
Sen. Randy Brock, R-Franklin, used more vivid language, likening the bill to a cattle ramp at a slaughterhouse. Despite supporters’ contention that there were checkpoints throughout the process, he said, “I’m worried there is a point when we won’t be able to turn around.”
Ayer argued there is an urgency to do something about the health care system.
“While some ask, ‘Why rush?’ more ask why we dawdle,” she said. She cited the escalating cost of health care in Vermont as reason to act now.
“Health care in Vermont costs us over 18 percent — almost one-fifth — of our entire domestic product and is growing,” Ayer said. “Over 200,000 Vermonters are un- or under-insured. Many of them are a broken arm away from homelessness or worse, and their numbers also grow by the day.”
The pending bill, Ayer said, was the remedy for the ailing system.
Benning countered that the bill fell far short of solving the state’s health-care ills.
“It is irresponsible to promise or imply that all citizens will be covered for all their health-care needs in a comprehensive plan when we cannot afford to do that,” Benning said. He criticized the bill for, he said, failing to answer critical questions such as what the health benefit package would be, how much it would cost or how to pay for it.
Ayer answered that the bill called for an exploration of “the options, the pitfalls, the benefits and the possibilities of health care for all Vermonters.” She listed the principles in the bill that would guide the proposed Green Mountain Care Board and the Legislature in analyzing the responses to the questions Benning and other critics have raised. The principle include:
• Vermonters have the right to see their own doctors.
• The health-care system would respect the primacy of the professional judgment of health-care providers and the informed decisions of patients.
• All Vermonters will contribute to the fiscal sustainability of the system.
• Vermonters would take responsibility for their health and use of resources.
• Providers and hospitals would be paid at a level that ensures their work is sustainable and their jobs, attractive.
Senators proposed nearly a dozen amendments to the 74-page bill. As afternoon became evening, and decisions had been made regarding only a handful, sponsors of numerous amendments agreed to delay presenting their proposals until today.
Once the Senate finishes its deliberations on the bill and votes, the revised version goes back to the House, which could accept the changes or call for negotiations. Negotiations are expected.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
May 1st: Healthcare is a Human Right Rally in VT
Healthcare-NOW! has endorsed the Healthcare is a Human Right Campaign (HCHR) March on Montpelier, Vermont on May 1st.
The HCHR Campaign has built a statewide grassroots movement to make healthcare reform a political inevitability in Vermont.
Supporters of the right to healthcare and single-payer are traveling in from across the country to attend this important event!
If you can, please join the HCHR Campaign on Sunday, May 1st in Montpelier, VT at 11am for a march and rally at the Statehouse to demonstrate both the statewide and national support for a quality system of universal healthcare in Vermont. Join thousands of Vermonters for this day of mobilizing, organizing, networking, and celebration.
They have made great strides towards the goal of universal healthcare in Vermont, but we know that real change will not be easy.
Insurance and pharmaceutical companies are rallying all over the country to support their friends in Vermont, and as we speak, these national corporations are pouring money and lobbyists into the state. As allies of the HHR Campaign, we need to show national support for real healthcare reform and stand with our friends in their struggle!
If you can go, please let the Workers’ Center know by calling 802.861.4892 or by emailing james@workerscenter.org.
The HCHR Campaign has built a statewide grassroots movement to make healthcare reform a political inevitability in Vermont.
Supporters of the right to healthcare and single-payer are traveling in from across the country to attend this important event!
If you can, please join the HCHR Campaign on Sunday, May 1st in Montpelier, VT at 11am for a march and rally at the Statehouse to demonstrate both the statewide and national support for a quality system of universal healthcare in Vermont. Join thousands of Vermonters for this day of mobilizing, organizing, networking, and celebration.
They have made great strides towards the goal of universal healthcare in Vermont, but we know that real change will not be easy.
Insurance and pharmaceutical companies are rallying all over the country to support their friends in Vermont, and as we speak, these national corporations are pouring money and lobbyists into the state. As allies of the HHR Campaign, we need to show national support for real healthcare reform and stand with our friends in their struggle!
If you can go, please let the Workers’ Center know by calling 802.861.4892 or by emailing james@workerscenter.org.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Beware of corporate influence in health reform
Burlington Free Press
Vermont’s health reform bill, H.202, outlines a path toward a streamlined, publicly financed, single-payer health care system. There are huge profits at stake for insurance, managed care, and drug firms and their business allies.
So far, these groups are keeping a fairly low profile. But according to whistle-blower Wendell Potter, former head of corporate communications at CIGNA, you can bet that they’re working feverishly behind the scenes to derail reform.
In his book, “Deadly Spin,” from 1993 to 2008, he was a leader in industry efforts to kill every health reform bill threatening insurance company profits. He and his colleagues spent millions of patients’ and employers’ premium dollars to convince a good portion of the public that the United States has the “best health care system in the world,” despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
He continues, “And if you were persuaded that the health care reform bill President Barack Obama signed into law in March 2010 was ‘a government takeover of the health care system,’ my former colleagues and I earned every penny of our handsome salaries. Not to mention our bonuses.”
Phrases such as “government takeover” are carefully crafted and evaluated, at a cost of millions, to manipulate us. They are then echoed repeatedly by allies, including some in the news media, until people believe that they’re true.
Potter opens the health insurance lobby’s “playbook.” Watch for these tactics:
The fear mongering has begun! People predict “rationing” (which is already widespread due to denials and lack of coverage). Some say Vermont is moving too fast. While anxiety is understandable, we do have the careful study done by William Hsiao’s expert team.
Others distract people from the real problems -- soaring costs, waste, inefficiency, widespread suffering and deaths -- by promoting the market-based system which caused them.
Opponents say single-payer will kill jobs. Hsiao’s team reported it will fuel economic growth. (Toyota built its recent North American plant in Toronto so it wouldn’t have to provide health care.)
“Spin” may be an outright lie or encourage people to doubt scientific data. Some insist that Americans don’t want reform despite good evidence that the majority of citizens -- and physicians -- want a single-payer system.
Another lie is “The current system works for most people.” Thousands of Vermonters are suffering! The administrative and managed care burdens drive many doctors out of practice and reduce access.
Corporations use philanthropy and warm, fuzzy advertising to distract us from negative publicity. Or they may say one thing and do another. The insurance lobby claimed to support federal reform, while working in secret to defeat it.
Insurance allies rely on alleged “experts” and fake grassroots “Astroturf” front groups. Their trade group, AHIP, funneled millions to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 2009 to run ads opposing health reform.
How can we protect ourselves from propaganda and spin?
Be skeptical! If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is (Remember Big Tobacco’s youth smoking prevention campaigns?). Visit http://www.prwatch.org. Scroll down for Potter’s article on Vermont.
Beware of scare tactics and labels! Phrases like “socialized medicine” are used to manipulate you (In many single-payer systems, doctors can practice privately and patients can choose whom to see).
Watch for front groups. They often have feel-good names that stress freedom or “American values.” Check: www.sourcewatch.org.
Be skeptical of sources of data. Beware of people who are unwilling to have a nuanced discussion of all sides of an issue.
Finally, educate yourself about single-payer. Tweaking the edges of our health care system has not helped. The system itself is the problem.
Potter reminds us, “Always look behind any public argument to see how your emotions are being manipulated. And count on it: They are.” Vermonters are generally an independent lot. I’m willing to bet that we’re smart enough to do what’s right, not what’s best for corporate America.
Vermont’s health reform bill, H.202, outlines a path toward a streamlined, publicly financed, single-payer health care system. There are huge profits at stake for insurance, managed care, and drug firms and their business allies.
So far, these groups are keeping a fairly low profile. But according to whistle-blower Wendell Potter, former head of corporate communications at CIGNA, you can bet that they’re working feverishly behind the scenes to derail reform.
In his book, “Deadly Spin,” from 1993 to 2008, he was a leader in industry efforts to kill every health reform bill threatening insurance company profits. He and his colleagues spent millions of patients’ and employers’ premium dollars to convince a good portion of the public that the United States has the “best health care system in the world,” despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
He continues, “And if you were persuaded that the health care reform bill President Barack Obama signed into law in March 2010 was ‘a government takeover of the health care system,’ my former colleagues and I earned every penny of our handsome salaries. Not to mention our bonuses.”
Phrases such as “government takeover” are carefully crafted and evaluated, at a cost of millions, to manipulate us. They are then echoed repeatedly by allies, including some in the news media, until people believe that they’re true.
Potter opens the health insurance lobby’s “playbook.” Watch for these tactics:
The fear mongering has begun! People predict “rationing” (which is already widespread due to denials and lack of coverage). Some say Vermont is moving too fast. While anxiety is understandable, we do have the careful study done by William Hsiao’s expert team.
Others distract people from the real problems -- soaring costs, waste, inefficiency, widespread suffering and deaths -- by promoting the market-based system which caused them.
Opponents say single-payer will kill jobs. Hsiao’s team reported it will fuel economic growth. (Toyota built its recent North American plant in Toronto so it wouldn’t have to provide health care.)
“Spin” may be an outright lie or encourage people to doubt scientific data. Some insist that Americans don’t want reform despite good evidence that the majority of citizens -- and physicians -- want a single-payer system.
Another lie is “The current system works for most people.” Thousands of Vermonters are suffering! The administrative and managed care burdens drive many doctors out of practice and reduce access.
Corporations use philanthropy and warm, fuzzy advertising to distract us from negative publicity. Or they may say one thing and do another. The insurance lobby claimed to support federal reform, while working in secret to defeat it.
Insurance allies rely on alleged “experts” and fake grassroots “Astroturf” front groups. Their trade group, AHIP, funneled millions to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 2009 to run ads opposing health reform.
How can we protect ourselves from propaganda and spin?
Be skeptical! If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is (Remember Big Tobacco’s youth smoking prevention campaigns?). Visit http://www.prwatch.org. Scroll down for Potter’s article on Vermont.
Beware of scare tactics and labels! Phrases like “socialized medicine” are used to manipulate you (In many single-payer systems, doctors can practice privately and patients can choose whom to see).
Watch for front groups. They often have feel-good names that stress freedom or “American values.” Check: www.sourcewatch.org.
Be skeptical of sources of data. Beware of people who are unwilling to have a nuanced discussion of all sides of an issue.
Finally, educate yourself about single-payer. Tweaking the edges of our health care system has not helped. The system itself is the problem.
Potter reminds us, “Always look behind any public argument to see how your emotions are being manipulated. And count on it: They are.” Vermonters are generally an independent lot. I’m willing to bet that we’re smart enough to do what’s right, not what’s best for corporate America.
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