Editor:
It is in the interest of every Vermonter to support the Vermont Legislature’s efforts to plan and implement a single payer health care system. It is important to realize that as a single state among 50, we must comply with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enacted by Congress last year. Therefore, the most recent legislation passed out of the Vermont House of Representatives, H. 559, is solely working to comply with the ACA’s mandated health care exchanges. The Vermont goal under Act 48 will need further legislation for final implementation before 2017.
It is my belief that we must keep our eye on the prize; freedom from insurance carrier competition, denials, copays and deductibles that hamper consumers’ abilities to seek care when needed. Freedom to keep ones insurance when leaving dead end jobs; the freedom to start ones own business, if desired; this is what it is all about. Companies will no longer be allowed to offer reduced premiums from those of individual plans. One’s preexisting conditions will no longer be weighed individually, but rather will be considered as part of a much larger entity, the entire population of the State of Vermont. Devastating diagnoses will be covered by having all Vermonters join together to pay for services. That is what insurance and true health care freedom should be all about.
Many businesses now tout their health savings accounts, (HSA’s) as a much better deal for employers. Of course they are! But by removing health care benefits from the employment equation, we will ALL be able to receive the same or better deals from a single insurer working for ALL of us, not just for cherry picked business entities, unions or large corporations.
The current legislation is only the first step. Let’s all be patient as we work towards a common goal and support our legislators, the administration and the Green Mountain Care Board in their efforts to provide health care for all.
Mary Alice Bisbee
Montpelier