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The home for VPR's coverage of health and health industry issues affecting the state of Vermont.

Shumlin Won't Pursue Single Payer If It Doesn't Help Economy

Angela Evancie
/
VPR
Gov. Peter Shumlin, here at a press conference in Essex Sept. 2, says he hopes the financing plan for single payer healthcare will create jobs.

Governor Peter Shumlin says he’ll abandon his quest to implement a single-payer health care system, if he can’t develop a financing plan that will improve Vermont’s economic climate. But he also says a good financing proposal could be an important catalyst for his effort to create more jobs.

Act 48, the law that put Vermont on the path to a single-payer health care system, was passed in 2011. It called on the governor to unveil a single-payer financing plan in January of 2013.

That didn’t happen because Shumlin said he needed more time to develop a plan. Shumlin said he would be ready to release his proposal in January of this year.

But Shumlin missed this deadline as well. He now says he’ll unveil his plan at the start of the Legislative session in January.

"If we come up with a financing plan that does not grow jobs, economic opportunity, and make Vermont more prosperous, trust me we are not going to do it," Governor Peter Shumlin

Speaking on VPR's Vermont Edition, Shumlin says finding a revenue package to raise roughly $2 billion has been a complicated task. These revenues would replace the premiums that businesses and individuals currently pay for their health coverage.

Shumlin says his proposal will be based on a person’s income:

“So it’s not simple but we’re coming up with a plan that I think will be based on ability to pay,” said Shumlin. “It would be a huge mistake, let the Affordable Care Act be testament to that, of going out with something that isn’t ready. We’re not there yet. We’ll get there but we’re not there yet.”

Shumlin says he remains convinced that the single-payer approach has the ability to be a positive force for the state economy.

“If we do that, it grows jobs,” said Shumlin. “The reason that we’re fighting about a minimum wage in this country, the reason that people aren’t seeing their incomes go up in the middle class - one of the main drivers is that health care is gobbling up money faster than employers can give raises.”

Shumlin says there’s no point pursing a single-payer option if the effort will hurt the state’s business community.

“If we come up with a financing plan that doesn’t grow jobs, economic opportunity, and make Vermont more prosperous, trust me, we’re not going to do it,” said Shumlin.

The future of health care in Vermont has become a major issue in this year’s gubernatorial race.

Libertarian candidate Dan Feliciano is strongly opposed to single payer. He favors a private sector approach to provide Vermonters with affordable health care.

Republican candidate Scott Milne says he has concerns about Shumlin’s plan. But Milne says he needs to see the details of the governor’s proposal before he takes a definitive stand on this issue.

Bob Kinzel has been covering the Vermont Statehouse since 1981 — longer than any continuously serving member of the Legislature. With his wealth of institutional knowledge, he answers your questions on our series, "Ask Bob."
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