Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Jeff Wennberg, the executive director of Vermonters for Health Care Freedom.
In 2011 Gov. Shumlin angered many Vermonters when he proposed his single-payer health care reform but refused to discuss the $3 billion in new taxes he needed to pay for it. He and legislative leaders upset us again when they blocked efforts to advance the date his funding plan must be released from January of next year to before the election.
In July the administration hired the University of Massachusetts Medical School to prepare the long-awaited financial analysis and funding plan (at a cost of $300,000). The administration now says their work will be sent to the Legislature in January as required by law, but the governor will not endorse it; he is telling us to ignore this plan and wait another two years for the”real” funding plan.
The latest excuse is that they are so busy creating the federal health benefits exchange they really don’t have the time to work on single payer. But the governor and others have repeatedly stated that the exchange is the “on-ramp” for single payer — the two are intertwined. Here are the facts:
If Gov. Shumlin has his way, by the time the rest of us find out what this will cost and see the damage it will do to our providers, our access to care, our pocketbooks and our economy, it will be too late to turn back.
• Act 171 of 2012 has taken the unprecedented step of outlawing private insurance outside the state-controlled exchange starting in 2014. This is contrary to the intent of Congress under the Affordable Care Act, where state exchanges were created.
• Act 48 of 2011 has created and granted the Green Mountain Care Board, a group of five unelected and unaccountable appointees, near total control over every aspect of the health care finance and delivery system in Vermont. None of this is needed for the exchange.
• The Green Mountain Care Board is proceeding as fast as it can to establish rules and make regulatory decisions that implement both the exchange and the single-payer takeover.
• The Department of Vermont Health Access has stated that the ongoing transition to the exchange and single payer will cost an estimated $278 million, much of which is being spent right now.
• There is no valid reason why the cost of single payer cannot be estimated today. Or yesterday for that matter. And Vermont has few options for paying a $3 billion bill.
• While funding and taxing decisions are being delayed for years, the governor has not proposed any delay in the implementation of single payer – the launch date is still Jan. 1, 2017.
On multiple occasions Gov. Shumlin has promised that if the single-payer numbers don’t add up he will “take his marbles and go home.” But the state has already enacted this misguided reform into law and is furiously implementing it. If Gov. Shumlin has his way, by the time the rest of us find out what this will cost and see the damage it will do to our providers, our access to care, our pocketbooks and our economy, it will be too late to turn back.
Perhaps the governor has seen a preview of UMass’ numbers and they don’t add up. If so, Vermonters ought to tell the governor to take his marbles and go home.
