Vermont House Committee Considers Road to Single Payer

From the Brattleboro Reformer – The health care committee of the Vermont House is lining up some of the tasks that will have to be finished before the state rolls out the first-in-the-nation single payer health care system, now scheduled for 2017. Meeting Friday at the Statehouse, the committee heard from legislative staffers who outlined…

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Shumlin Payroll Tax to Fund Single Payer Unpalatable to Business

By Andrew Stein for VTDigger.org – If Gov. Peter Shumlin pursues a payroll tax to fund a publicly financed health care system, he will meet heavy resistance from one of the state’s most influential business groups. Betsy Bishop, president of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, says her organization and its members would not look favorably…

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Can SEIU Help Vermonters Win Single Payer?

By Steve Early for Labor Notes – While the nation waits for an overdue Supreme Court decision that will decide the fate of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, another health care drama with wide implications for universal health care is just starting in Vermont. Prodded by a strong grassroots movement, the Vermont legislature voted last…

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Vermont governor signs universal healthcare bill

New law designed to lead the state toward the nation’s first single-payer system By Dave Gram for the AP – Vermont still has “a few challenges” ahead to meet its goal of a universal health care system this decade, Gov. Peter Shumlin said Thursday as he signed into law the bill designed to make the…

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Vermont Senate expected to take up health reform legislation this week

From the Republic.com – MONTPELIER, Vt. — A committee of the Vermont Senate is expected to work an extra day Monday — and a long one at that — as lawmakers push to finish work on a bill that would move the state toward Gov. Peter Shumlin’s goal of universal, single-payer health care. Lawmakers usually…

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Vermont Governor Lays Out Details for Single Payer Pathway

By Nancy Remsen for Burlington Free Press – The Shumlin administration released the legislative details of how to move the state to a single payer health care system, with the first steps beginning this summer. “We are committing to reforms that get us as many of the benefits of a single payer as possible under…

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Will Vermont’s Babies Have a Better Chance?

By Donna Smith – As Peter Shumlin was officially sworn in as governor of Vermont, there was and is great hope that at least in one state we may see passage and implementation of a truly universal, single-payer healthcare system. From Shumlin’s January 6, 2011, inaugural address: “The rising cost of healthcare for Vermont’s middle…

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