Editor’s note: This oped is by a group of Vermont doctors who are listed below.
We are endorsing Peter Shumlin for Governor of Vermont.
Why Peter Shumlin?
As health care practitioners, we see firsthand the dysfunction of our current health care system. It is an intolerable and often demoralizing environment within which to practice medicine. We desperately need change, and since the federal plan will do little to address these problems, our only hope is at the state level.
Health care costs are spiraling out of control and we have seen nothing to convince us that the federal health care plan will slow the growth of spending. We are appalled at the excessive profits earned by the insurance companies and the drug makers, while earning a living in primary care and psychiatry becomes more difficult and stressful.
Above all, we want what is best for our patients. We do not believe that anyone should have to choose between paying the rent or getting a prescription filled, between going to the doctor or buying groceries. Bankruptcy due to health care debt should be abolished. Health care should not be a commodity, it should be a public good, financed by the public, and provided to all citizens through a private delivery system.
Who then is the candidate for governor of Vermont best suited to address these problems? We believe that Peter Shumlin is the one. Peter Shumlin is the only candidate who has shown unwavering support for a publicly financed universal health care system in Vermont. While other candidates have spoken of the need for change, Peter Shumlin has gone one step further. He has repeatedly pledged himself to the task of enacting a state single payer system, and having it become law before federal mandates precluding such reform take effect in 2014.
Peter Shumlin is the only candidate of the five Democrats running for governor who has actually sponsored a single payer bill, and who has from the beginning used the term “single payer” in his campaign statements. In addition, it was only because of Peter Shumlin that legislators last winter heard the testimony of Professor William Hsiao, the architect of Taiwan’s single payer system. Thanks to Peter Shumlin’s efforts Professor Hsiao has now been hired to design alternative models that will lay out the most cost effective ways to provide health coverage to every Vermonter.
Of all the candidates Peter Shumlin has by far the best track record of legislative accomplishment. He has excellent leadership skills and is known for his ability to get things done. He is the kind of person we need at the top of the executive branch if we are to enact meaningful health care reform. Peter Shumlin has proven that he is not afraid of taking political risks in the interests of furthering the public good. We are confident that he will put his skills to work for real health care reform.
We call on all Vermonters who feel as we do about the need for change to join us in supporting Peter Shumlin for governor.
Respectfully submitted,
Deborah Richter, MD (family physician)
Jack Mayer, MD (pediatrician)
Bill Eichner, MD (ophthalmologist)
Bruce Talmadge, MD (retired internist)
Peggy Carey, MD (family physician)
Alice Silverman, MD (psychiatrist)
Marvin Malek, MD (internist)
Sue Deppe, MD (psychiatrist)
Adam Sorscher, MD (family physician)
Joseph Lasek, MD (psychiatrist)
Laura Norris, MD (Family physician
Dorothy Malone Rising, NP
Patricia Towle, NP
Augusta Wilson, RN
Alma Mueller, NP
Suzie Lynn, LPN
