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You may also send your tax Deductible* donations to: Vermont Health Care for All * Vermont Health Care for All, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation and your contributions are tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Book For SaleAt the Crossroads: The Future of Health Care in Vermont |
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Current News:CATAMOUNT HEALTH BECOMES A REALITY(June, 2006) - MONTPELIER - Governor and Legislature hash
out compromise on health care. THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE - Government-Funded Care Is the Best Health Solution(April 18, 2006) - Wall Street Journal - Government-Funded
Care Is the Best Health Solution A recently approved Massachusetts plan1 designed to force all residents
to get health insurance was a step in the right direction, but it doesn't
go far enough. State has new data on who's covered and who's not(April 4, 2006) - MONTPELIER - Fewer Vermonters have private
health insurance and more have state-subsidized heath coverage compared
to five years ago, according to data from a recently completed Vermont
Household Health Insurance Survey. First do no harm(March 5, 2006) - The easy part of health care reform is over.
All three of the major legislative players in the debate – the
governor and leaders of both the House and Senate – agreed in principle
on some basic improvements to Vermont's health care system last summer.
Those proposals, including reducing medical errors, improving preventive
medicine and streamlining paperwork, are moving toward final passage
right on schedule. Health care bill divides House(March 4, 2006 ) - MONTPELIER -- House Democrats deflected every
attempt Friday by the Republican minority to water down the majority's
high-priority health reform bill, then gave the measure a partisan vote
of approval and sent it off to the Senate. Catamount bill a sham(March 2, 2006) - Catamount bill a sham - Commentary By CORNELIUS HOGAN On March 1, Rep. John Tracy had a commentary published in this newspaper
extolling the House bill dubbed "Catamount Care." There were
several representations about the bill, that simply put, do not hold
up. Health care redux(February 24, 2006) - Once again, politics has trumped reality when it comes to reforming the way Vermonters receive and pay for health care. Democrats, who ran successfully in 2004 on a platform of health care
reform and the hinted at a promise of a universal system that would
insure all Vermonters, have caved to the veto threat of Republican Gov.
Jim Douglas and are working to accommodate some of his limp proposals
that do nothing but strike rhetorical chords. House committee OKs taxes for health reforms(February 22, 2006) - Burlington Free Press - The House Ways
and Means Committee voted 7-4 — along party lines — to
recommend a cigarette tax increase and use of anticipated payments from
The committee endorsed a 60-cent increase in the tax on cigarettes, recommended that extra payments that tobacco companies begin sending the state in 2008 all go toward the new health initiatives. Opponents, all Republicans, questioned the reliability of tobacco dollars in the future because of declining smoking rates and state-financed efforts to prevent youth smoking. Supporters focused on the benefits they expect the health reforms will
produce — improved care for the uninsured and Vermonters with chronic
diseases and curbs on the increasing cost of health care. Health reform bill begins political journey(February 18, 2006) -MONTPELIER -- Like a ski racer in the Winter
Olympics, the House Health Committee's health care reform bill blasted
out of the starting gate Thursday and headed down a course full of political
obstacles. Health reform advances(February 17, 2006) - MONTPELIER — A health care reform
bill crafted to match Gov. James Douglas' priorities more closely emerged
Thursday from a key House committee, but the administration remained
concerned with how it would be paid for, among other things. Critics challenge health reform plan(February 15, 2006) - MONTPELIER -- Dr. Deborah Richter hoisted a megaphone and addressed a group of 50 supporters of universal health care gathered Tuesday outside the Statehouse to protest the health reform plan drafted by the House Health Committee. "Go back to the drawing board and consider a different bill,"
... Health care reform does too little, say activists(February 15, 2006) - MONTPELIER — Even as the House Health
Care Committee worked inside on a health reform bill that would provide
care to more Vermonters, a group of activists stood on the Statehouse
steps demanding a more comprehensive approach. House panel offers revised health reform plan(February 11, 2006) - MONTPELIER -- The House Health Committee
is poised to vote next week on its second plan to reform health care
with a bill that would provide coverage for the uninsured and retool
the way chronic diseases are treated. Reform languishes - "A failing grade for addressing reform ..."(February 2, 2006) - One of the leading advocates of health care reform has given members of the Legislature, Democrats and Republicans, a failing grade for addressing reform in a meaningful way. Dr. Deborah Richter told a labor gathering in Barre on Sunday that plans proposed by Gov. James Douglas and by Democrats in the Legislature fail to take on the health care system as a system. Instead they are tinkering around the margins. Click
here to read the article from the Times Argus Click here to READ WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING about this editorial... Mayors urge health reform(February 1, 2006) - MONTPELIER — Mayors of Vermont's cities urged the Legislature on Tuesday to adopt meaningful health care reform that they said would reduce some of the pressures on their municipal budgets, although they declined to offer a specific solution. Click here to read the article by Ross Sneyd Associated Press Canadian health system is good model(January 29, 2006) Three cheers for Dr. Marvin Malek's op-ed piece in the Jan. 15 edition of the Sunday Rutland Herald and Times Argus. It highlights a central element of the health care debate that seems to be getting almost no notice: how to address the wildly inefficient administrative structure of the current system. Click here to read the article by ANDREW JACKSON, Montpelier An unhealthy business(January 15, 2006) Dr. Marvin Malek writes in the Times Argus: "The city of Barre recently ended a divisive teacher's strike. The city of Colchester also endured one last fall. In both cases, health insurance costs were a key issue. When we think about the causes of these strikes, we should all be clear that the fault lies neither with the union nor the school board. It is instead a failure of our health care system. Only in the United States do we have strikes over health insurance." Click here to read the article by Dr. MARVIN MALEK... The cost of care(January 14, 2006) A Rutland Herald editorial writer says, "If health care is viewed as a business, it will depend on the prevalence of illness. If it is viewed as a public service, it will dedicate itself to curbing illness." It's an easy choice to make but a tough fit for health care reform based on the marketplace. Click here to read the article from the Rutland Herald... Business owners need to be heard from in health care debate(January 1, 2006) Systematic health care reform and smart business practices are a good fit. Con Hogan, former secretary of Health & Human Services, wonders why the business community hasn't said so. "The health care debate in Vermont continues at great intensity as we roar toward the second half of the current legislative biennium. Proposals are multiplying like fertile rabbits. Everyone, it seems, now has an informed opinion. But there is an important group of people at the very center of this issue who need to be heard from." |
