Vermont and its Educators Lead the Way on Single Payer
By Mary Ellen Flannery
The same state that led the nation on same-sex marriage is now tackling another social justice issue: health care coverage for all of its residents.Led by Gov. Peter Shumlin, with the strong support ofVT-NEA and its leaders, the state of Vermont is moving effectively toward becoming the first in the U.S. with a universal, publicly funded healthcare system. Also known as “single payer,” a universal system promises to contain the out-of-control costs of health care while delivering high-quality, comprehensive, and affordable care to all Vermonters, no matter their family income, employment status or background.
“Many people may have been surprised and a little curious (to hear) Vermont-NEA was backing the move toward universal, publicly funded health care,” wrote VT-NEA President Martha Allen this spring. “After all, the thinking goes, members of the state’s largest union already have comprehensive and affordable health insurance, so why on earth would they support Vermont’s efforts to become the first U.S. state to go down this road?
“The answer, of course, is that the creation of Green Mountain Care is good for Vermonters.”
Proponents of universal health care in Vermont, including many doctors and small business owners, began decades ago to pursue a unified health care system. In 2011, they won a key victory: Passage of Act 48, a state law requiring creation of a “universal and unified” health care system for the “public good” of all Vermont residents. Called “Green Mountain Care,” the new program must, by law, cover residents “in a seamless manner regardless of income, assets, health status, or availability of other health coverage.” It also must work to contain costs, provide patients with choices, and preserve and enhance primary care in Vermont’s communities.
“There’s no reason that anybody in Vermont, regardless of who they are, where they work, or what their health status is, should be without comprehensive, affordable health care,” said Mark Hage, VT-NEA’s health-policy expert. “We’ve been a leading player here to expand access to public health care for Vermonters. This has always been important to us as a union. We believe it’s the right thing to do.”
If all goes well with the General Assembly’s next task—finding the money to pay for roughly $2 billionprogram— Vermonters will be enjoying Green Mountain Care in 2017, the first year that states may be permitted to enact a single-payer system under the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA). At that point, it could be a model for other states interested in following its lead.
“Vermont is a very progressive state,” said Ida Hellender, of the Physicians for a National Health Program.But the essential ingredients of Vermont’s health care system can be found anywhere: “They have doctors, they have hospitals, they have the same kinds of bodies that the rest of us do…”
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS
NEA has long believed that “affordable comprehensive health care… is the right of every resident,” and that belief has been codified among the NEA resolutions adopted by the NEA Representative Assembly (RA) each summer. NEA also has resolved to support a single-payer system for the United States, and to Vermont and its Educators Lead the Way on Single Payer | NEA Today: