By Alan Panebaker | Vtdigger.org
The Shumlin administration and the Green Mountain Care Board introduced road maps Thursday for how they plan to implement health care reform.

As states attempt to set up single payer programs, one problem that comes up is how do you move federal funds from programs such as Medicare into the state single payer system? The simple answer is, you don't, at least not without getting Congress to enact transformative legislation.

by Daniel Fireside | YES! Magazine
Deb Richter resolved to fix the health care system almost as soon as she began practicing medicine more than two decades ago in inner-city Buffalo. “I was very naive, I guess,” recalls Richter. “A lot of my patients didn’t have insurance. I would prescribe medicines for patients but they wouldn’t be able to afford them, and then they would just get sicker. I was mortified.”

By Alan Panebaker | VTDigger
In reaction to the Shumlin administration’s push for a single-payer style health care system, doctors have resuscitated a bargaining group that will represent the interests of physicians.

By John Buntin | Governing
At a time when states are struggling to comply with the provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Vermont's ambitious plan to create the nation's first single-payer health financing system might be hard to comprehend. Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin sees this initiative as common sense. I recently had a chance to talk with Shumlin, an experienced legislator and small business owner, about why he thinks such radical change in health care is a necessity. An edited transcript follows.

By Jessica Marcy | Kaiser Health News
Starting now, Vermont begins building a single-payer health system that will move many state residents into a publicly financed insurance program and pay hospitals, doctors and other providers a set fee to care for patients.

Gov. Peter Shumlin today announced his appointments to the Green Mountain Care Board, a body that is central to the implementation of health reform in Vermont. The Board is responsible for creating the first single payer health care system in the country, which will control costs and guarantee coverage regardless of employment status.

By Tristin Adie | The Indypendent (N.Y.)
On May 26, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin signed into law H. 202, a bill that is intended to set the state on the road to a single-payer health care system. While the legislation puts off the creation of such a system for a number of years, this is an important initial victory for thousands of activists in the state who have been agitating for years for a truly universal system.

Editorial | Rutland (Vt.) Herald
This is the triumphal phase of the first term of Gov. Peter Shumlin. Last week his office released a schedule describing the long list of signing ceremonies he will hold throughout the state. Shumlin did not do it alone. Strong Democratic majorities in the House and Senate pushed through an impressive array of legislation on matters great and small. It is a sign of what can happen when voters set a clear direction and elect leaders eager to follow through. The Democratic successes this year also mean that the Democrats will be accountable for the success or failure of their ambitious program.

By Ellen Oxfeld | Burlington (Vt.) Free Press
Gov. Peter Shumlin signed the new health care bill into law Thursday. Many people may wonder how we came to this point. Why is it that Vermont is the first state to pass legislation that acknowledges that health care is a public good, and that the best route toward universal access and cost control is to create a health care system that is publicly funded? There are still many more steps to go be fore we reach this goal.

By Zach Howard | Reuters
Vermont became the first state to lay the groundwork for single-payer health care on Thursday when its governor signed an ambitious bill aimed at establishing universal insurance coverage for all residents.

Health blog | Consumer Reports
Vermont made history today when Governor Peter Shumlin, a Democrat, signed into law a plan to create the nation’s first state-run “single-payer” health system. If fully implemented, every Vermont resident, including those on Medicare and Medicaid, would be entitled to enroll in the state’s own insurance plan, Green Mountain Care. Private insurers would still be allowed to operate in the state.

As governor signs a 'universal health care' bill, a national physicians group says the Vermont developments show that many Americans want to go beyond the new federal health law to more fundamental reform

By Ezra Klein | The Washington Post
Kevin Outterson is an associate professor of health law, bioethics and human rights at Boston University, as well as a blogger at the Incidental Economist. He’s also been following the Vermont health-care reform process in some detail, and is one of fairly few people who has actually read the 141-page single-payer bill that the governor is poised to sign. Earlier this afternoon, he walked me through what he’s learned.

By Doug Trapp | Amednews
Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin has pledged to sign a bill that paves the way for the state to launch a health system approaching a single-payer model later in the decade and to create a state health insurance exchange within the next several years.

By Roger Collier | Healthcare Finance News
In just a few days, Vermont’s Governor Peter Shumlin will sign into law what the media is calling “single payer health care reform.” But is it?

By The Associated Press
The Census Bureau reported that, in 2007, Vermont ranked sixth in the country in physicians per capita, with 374 per 100,000, versus a national average of 271 per 100,000. And about 90 percent of Vermonters have some form of health insurance already. But some of those with insurance say it falls far short of what they need.

By Wendell Potter | Tucson Sentinel
While several states are suing the federal government to block health care reform and dragging their feet on implementing any part of it, Vermont this week will be taking a giant leap in the other direction—toward universal coverage and greater cost control—when Gov. Peter Shumlin signs legislation putting the state on the path toward a single-payer health care system.

By Hamilton Davis | Vtdigger.org
For the second time in 15 years, the state of Vermont is making a concerted effort to rebuild its health care system. The odds were long for the mid-1990s campaign, which failed, and they are equally long now. That is not to say that the drive toward reform initiated by Gov. Peter Shumlin is doomed, only that it is a very long shot.