Single payer pushed
By DANIEL BARLOW
Times Argus
April 2, 2009
MONTPELIER — When Ariel Zevon opened up her Barre business two years, she wanted to offer good health care to her employees. They signed up for a plan under the state’s largest health insurance company.
That lasted about a month.
“As a business, we couldn’t float it,” said Zevon, the owner of the Local Agricultural Community Exchange, know as LACE. “It was completely unattainable for our family and our employees.”
Nearly 100 Vermonters attended a Statehouse rally Wednesday morning to draw attention to an issue that has seen little discussion this year: Reforming health care. Major reforms to the industry have been pushed aside this year as lawmakers grapple with holes in the state budget.
Dr. Deb Richter of Montpelier said the session was held to draw attention to two bills — S.88 and H.100, both of which would establish a single-payer health care system in Vermont — that have not been debated in this legislative session.
“There have been no formal hearings on these bills, so we decided to hold one,” Richter said.
Russ Bennett, the owner of a design and construction company in Waitsfield, told the crowd that health insurance costs make up about 10 percent of his payroll. He wants to offer insurance to all his employees, but doing so puts him at a competitive disadvantage in bidding for work.
He said health care should not be coupled with employment.
“If you crash your car into a tree, the insurance company pays for it,” Bennett said. “But I have different policies for my eyes and teeth … as if they all weren’t connected to the same body.”
Rep. Mary Hooper, D-Montpelier, who also serves as the city’s mayor, said officials in City Hall have been grappling with health insurance cost increases. Over the last seven years, the city’s health insurance costs have increased 94 percent, she said.
The city’s payroll includes $1.2 million annually for employee health insurance, she said. And as costs went up again this year, the city cut five jobs to continue paying for the health insurance plans.
“Don’t talk to me about the potholes,” Hooper said. “We’re fixing them, but not the way we should be. The cost of health insurance is wiping everything else out. We shouldn’t have to make the choice between city services and providing health care.”
Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, D-Windham, a supporter of a single-payer health care system, told the crowd Wednesday morning that he is hopeful that the new administration of President Obama will make dramatic reforms to the health care system.
If that effort falls short — which Shumlin said would be because of the strong influence of money from reform opponents in Washington, D.C. — states such as Vermont can step in and experiment with new models, which if proven effective, could be implemented across the country.
“It’s clear that we need to move away from an employer-based health care system to one that mirrors what every other developed country in the world has,” Shumlin said.
Shumlin praised a federal bill introduced earlier this week by U.S. Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., that would establish a universal, single-payer health care system.
“This bill provides every citizen with health care coverage and services through a state-administered, single payer program,” explained Sanders’ spokesperson Will Wiquist.
Ben Graham, the owner of Plainfield’s Natural Design and Build, said he also has been unable to find affordable insurance. He worries that if the state waits for the Obama administration, it may be waiting too long.
“Sen. Shumlin says maybe in the next decade,” Graham said. “That makes me nervous. We need change now.”
Rep. Francis “Topper” McFaun, R-Barre Town, received a standing ovation from the crowd Wednesday. He teamed up with Richter last year to push a bill that would make hospital care in Vermont free. He said he was kicked off the House Health Care Committee this year for sponsoring that bill.
He said the only way to create the political atmosphere to pass a single-payer health care bill is for supporters to lobby their legislators.
“That’s the only way you’ll get this done,” McFaun said. “You’ve got to get, not in my face, but in my heart. That’s how you will change things.”
Contact Daniel Barlow at Daniel.Barlow@timesargus.com.