• Vermont: Shumlin signs nation’s first single-payer health care bill into law
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[release]Gov. Peter Shumlin relished his biggest moment of triumph since he was elected in November by a narrow margin. On Wednesday, he signed a bill that he said will create “the first single payer system in America.” Shumlin, flanked by dozens of supporters and Democratic lawmakers on the Statehouse steps, profusely thanked the advocates and legislators who helped to pass H.202, a bill that sets in motion the creation of a single-payer style health care system. More than 100 onlookers marked what several lawmakers called a historic moment. “We gather here today to launch the first single payer system in America, to do in Vermont what has taken too long — to have a health care that is the best in the world that treats health care as a right and not a privilege, where health care follows the individual not the employer,” Shumlin said. Shumlin, a Democrat, campaigned on the creation of a single-payer plan that would contain rising health care costs, integrate the fractious medical system and guarantee universal access to medical care. With the enactment of H.202, the governor takes the first step toward realizing that campaign pledge. The Democratic majority in the Vermont House and Senate passed the bill in May. The legislation sets up a framework for developing an implementation plan for Green Mountain Care, a universal, unified health care system. The bill creates a five-member board that will oversee the development of a benefits package, a reimbursement system for doctors and hospitals, and a financing system to support the universal health care plan. The law also contains provisions for Vermont’s federal insurance exchanges. The governor described the single-payer system that has yet to be designed as “a huge jobs creator” that is “sustainable, that spends our health care dollars making Vermonters healthy not on insurance company profits and not on waste and inefficiency.” The governor spelled out a vision in which health insurance coverage would be decoupled from employment and the financial burden now borne by employers would be lifted; in which providers who are having difficulty surviving in the current system are compensated fairly; and in which uninsured and underinsured Vermonters will have access to health care. The bill lays out a timeline for the implementation of the complicated plan over a three-year period. Though the Shumlin administration hopes to launch Green Mountain Care in 2014, it could be 2017 before the system is in place because of certain federal requirements. “As a business person … I know firsthand that the biggest obstacle to job growth is the 10, 20, 30 percent increases in insurance premiums,” Shumlin said. “Where we as employers so badly want to cover our employees and consistently send more money to insurance companies for less and less coverage asking Vermonters our employees to pay more and more of their share in an unsustainable system that will both bankrupt us and make it impossible for our small rural providers who do such a great job providing quality care to survive in a small rural state.” The governor pledged to “get this done in Vermont” despite daunting obstacles. A few of those roadblocks include intense opposition from prominent insurance companies, insurance brokers and some large employers (most notably IBM); skeptical doctors and hospital administrators; and requirements that the state obtain eight federal waivers before it implements Green Mountain Care. Shumlin acknowledged that his administration “has a few challenges” and that H.202 is the beginning of a long, difficult odyssey no other state has undertaken, in which critics would attempt to undermine his administration’s efforts to create a single-payer system. The Shumlin administration also faces pressure from the activists who created a groundswell of grassroots support for single-payer. Some observers say advocates may demand health care benefit levels that could prove financially unsustainable. The bill, Shumlin said, is for the 47,000 uninsured and 150,000 underinsured Vermonters “who know that if they get sick, as unfortunately we all do, that when that day comes, they may lose their house their car, their economic security because underinsurance is no insurance at all.” “That’s what we need to fix,” Shumlin said. He described the bill as “both an opportunity and an obligation.”[/release] rest in the link [url]http://vtdigger.org/2011/05/27/shumlin-signs-nations-first-single-payer-bill-into-law/[/url]
Really historic and all but I think most of Europe and the SSR's had beat America by about 200 years with that.
Yeah, those Democrats [I]are just as bad[/I] as Republicans, am I right?
[QUOTE=Megafanx13;30080446]Yeah, those Democrats [I]are just as bad[/I] as Republicans, am I right?[/QUOTE] there socialsim is infecting america
This is a much bigger deal than most people realize. This is [B]Single-Payer Healthcare[/B], in America no less.
Wait... what? Seriously? Where did this come from? Awesome news!
[QUOTE=Turnips5;30086573]Wait... what? Seriously? Where did this come from? Awesome news![/QUOTE] I should note that Vermont is the only state who's voted in a Democratic Socialist senator, Bernie Sanders. Additionally, Sanders is also the longest serving independent senator.
[QUOTE=Megafanx13;30086438]This is a much bigger deal than most people realize. This is [B]Single-Payer Healthcare[/B], in America no less.[/QUOTE] Something good comes out of the festering filth of American politics. I am surprised.
[QUOTE=GeneralFredrik;30086754]Something good comes out of the festering filth of American politics. I am surprised.[/QUOTE] To be fair we did do that DADT repeal, and now Obama's trying to push the DREAM Act. It's not all bad stuff.
This is just further proof that New England is the best region of the US (with the Pacific North-West in a close second). They have the best schools, the best countryside, the best cities, and now the best healthcare. More of the nation would be like this if people wold just stop with the mud-slinging and libel on the national scale. That's why I like State politics better. It's just easier to get shit done.
I live right next door, can I hop over and get free healthcare?
Waiting for :foxnews: to spin the hell out of this
[QUOTE=Megafanx13;30080446]Yeah, those Democrats [I]are just as bad[/I] as Republicans, am I right?[/QUOTE] Cool that this happened, but it's very obvious that the Democrats in Vermont are [i]very[/i] different from the Democrats in Washington and the rest of the country.
[QUOTE=analrapist;30087615]Cool that this happened, but it's very obvious that the Democrats in Vermont are [i]very[/i] different from the Democrats in Washington and the rest of the country.[/QUOTE] Regardless, these people are still Democratic Party representatives, you can't dismiss them as some splinter faction.
[QUOTE=U.S.S.R;30077983]Really historic and all but I think most of Europe and the SSR's had beat America by about 200 years with that.[/QUOTE] The fuck is an SSR?
Soviet Socialist Republic, or a nation belonging to the Soviet Union.
[QUOTE=Megafanx13;30086697]I should note that Vermont is the only state who's voted in a Democratic Socialist senator, Bernie Sanders. Additionally, Sanders is also the longest serving independent senator.[/QUOTE] Because he's actually good at his job and looking out for his people.
Vermont has always been fucking awesome. I grew up there, but now my parents moved to Utah, which fucking SUCKS. When I get out of school I am moving to Vermont.
[QUOTE=Swilly;30088472]Because he's actually good at his job and looking out for his people.[/QUOTE] He certainly does.
[QUOTE=Megafanx13;30086697]I should note that Vermont is the only state who's voted in a Democratic Socialist senator, Bernie Sanders. Additionally, Sanders is also the longest serving independent senator.[/QUOTE] I have met this person before, he's a great guy.
[QUOTE=BenJammin';30088651]I have met this person before, he's a great guy.[/QUOTE] Jon Stewart did an interview with him on The Daily Show, he seems like a really honest guy.
Vermont: Most progressive state in the nation. I honestly wish that Sanders was my senator, and that their administration ran my state. Sanders is honestly my favorite man in government, and Vermont is my favorite state in the union, politically speaking. Sanders doesn't bullshit, his way of speaking is respectful but he gets his point across, and he legitimately seems to care about people. He does so many town-hall style meetings. He's what I think more politicians should be like. All we have here is failure and greedy democrats (Granholm, Vernero, cough) followed by stupid and dictatorial republicans (Snyder, cough). And this single-payer health care is absolutely a step in the right direction.
[QUOTE=U.S.S.R;30088452]Soviet Socialist Republic, or a nation belonging to the Soviet Union.[/QUOTE] Love how people idolize the Soviet Union. Pretty funny.
[QUOTE=RBM11v2;30090601]Love how people idolize the Soviet Union. Pretty funny.[/QUOTE] Famine in the SSRs killed more people than Hitler, but you can blame that on drought and the rapid change in the ways products were distributed. :v:
[QUOTE=U.S.S.R;30088452]Soviet Socialist Republic, or a nation belonging to the Soviet Union.[/QUOTE] There was one "SSR", the rest were satellite states.
[QUOTE=amute;30091027]There was one "SSR", the rest were satellite states.[/QUOTE] Union of Soviet Socialist Republics imply more than one.
[QUOTE=amute;30091027]There was one "SSR", the rest were satellite states.[/QUOTE] All the Republics of the Soviet Union were SSRs: [img]http://i.imgur.com/95AgW.png[/img] Saying they weren't is a little like saying the states of the US aren't actually states.
[QUOTE=U.S.S.R;30090659]Famine in the SSRs killed more people than Hitler, but you can blame that on drought and the rapid change in the ways products were distributed. :v:[/QUOTE] oh yea and all the people killed for not believing in the government the ussr was an evil empire denying that is denying history
[QUOTE=Megafanx13;30091129]All the Republics of the Soviet Union were SSRs: [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/95AgW.png[/IMG] Saying they weren't is a little like saying the states of the US aren't actually states.[/QUOTE] I was talking about them being Satellite states.
[QUOTE=amute;30091314]I was talking about them being Satellite states.[/QUOTE] they werent though countries like poland, czechoslovakia, romania, those were satellite states ukraine, lithuania, belorussia, kazahkstan, etc. were members states in that union
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