CONTACT:
Alexandra MacLean, (802) 828-3806

Dr. William Hsiao, Architect of Universal Health Care Systems, Addressed Senate and House Health Care Committees

Montpelier, Vt – At the invitation of Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, Dr. William Hsiao, architect of Taiwan’s universal access health care system, testified before Senate and House Health Care Committees today.

“Our health care system is broken,” said Senator Peter Shumlin. “Too many Vermonters are either uninsured or underinsured – struggling to obtain coverage or struggling to pay ever increasing premiums. I invited Dr. Hsiao to Vermont to begin the process of bringing the change that is so desperately needed in our health care system.”

Dr. Hsiao is a Professor of Economics at Harvard and has guided successful reforms in a number of countries. One of these examples is Taiwan where in 1995, the Hsiao-designed universal health care system was implemented within one year, driving down the rate of uninsured from 45% to 5% and stabilizing health spending at 6% of GDP. Quality and outcomes have improved and life expectancy for the previously uninsured has improved dramatically.

Addressing the committee and a room full of advocates, Dr. Hsiao praised Vermont’s health care reform efforts as some of the most impressive in the country. However, Dr. Hsiao stated that these efforts are “band-aids addressing the symptoms not the fundamental problems.”

“It is time for substantive, system wide change,” said Senator Shumlin. “I would like to move Vermont forward by engaging Dr. Hsiao to design a universal health care system that can provide quality, affordable care to all Vermonters.”

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Contact: Alexandra MacLean, (802) 828-3806

Dr. Hsiao, Health Policy Expert, to Testify Before Senate and House Health Care Committees on Thursday, March 18 Regarding Vermont’s Health Care System

Montpelier, Vt – At the invitation of Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, William Hsiao, the Harvard economist who specializes in health policy, will address a joint hearing of the legislature’s health care committees Thursday, March 18th, at 2 p.m. in room 11 at the Statehouse.

Dr. Hsiao’s visit is highly anticipated because this will be the first time Vermont legislators have heard from a health policy expert with real-world experience in creating a health care system.

“Vermonters can not afford our current health care system, with its never ending rising costs and obstacles to coverage. It is time for Vermont to make a commitment to move towards a system where all Vermonters have access to high quality, affordable health care,” said Senate President Peter Shumlin. “Dr. Hsiao has the skills to redesign our health care system and I am hopeful that legislation will be passed this year that will begin that process.”

Hsiao has guided successful reforms in a number of countries, including Taiwan, Sweden, Cyprus, China, Vietnam, Poland, Hong Kong, Uganda and South Africa.

Taiwan is a striking example of his use of his reform model. In 1995,the Hsiao-designed universal health care system was implemented within one year, driving down the rate of uninsured from 45% to 5% and stabilizing health spending at 6% of GDP. Quality and outcomes have improved and life expectancy for the previously uninsured has improved dramatically.

Hsiao is the K.T. Li Professor of Economics at Harvard. He is the director of the Program in Health Care Financing at the Harvard School of Public Health. He is author of many books, including 2004′s “Getting Health Reform Right.” More information on Dr. Hsiao can be obtained at http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/faculty/william-hsiao/

Hsiao will speak to the Senate Health & Welfare Committee and the House Health Care Committee and answer their questions. The public is invited and encouraged to attend.

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Diane Bothfeld

Ten cents of every pint of milk students at the University of Vermont and Harvard University buy will be passed on to dairy farmers. UVM launched its Keep Local Farms fund-raising campaign on Monday. Harvard joined the program on Oct. 19.

The slight price hike is part of a fund-raising and marketing campaign to raise money and the profile of New England dairy farmers who have seen significant declines in income since milk prices plummeted at the beginning of 2009.

Right now, dairy farmers in the region are making $1.10 a gallon for their milk; it costs them $1.80 to produce it, according to Vermont Agency of Agriculture statistics.

Diane Bothfeld, deputy commissioner of the agency, anticipates that the two university programs will generate $800 to $900 a month for the Keep Local Farms program, which is run by the New England Family Dairy Farms Cooperative.

The program also has a Web site, http://www.keeplocalfarms.org/, that encourages people to make direct donations to the cooperative. For $30, donors get a Keep Local Farms bumper sticker; for $250 “dairy defenders” get a bumper sticker and a T-shirt. Tote bags are available for a $100 donation. (Contributors should know, however, that these donations are not tax-deductible, as NEFDFC is not an authorized 501C3, IRS public charity.) So far, contributors have donated $5,000.

Farmers throughout the region will receive payments from the pooled proceeds twice a year.

Bothfeld says at the moment the money Keep Local Farms generates is a drop in the bucket compared with the mounting debt farmers are facing.

“It’s pennies back for farmers right now,” Bothfeld says. “But it’s a brand new program. We have to build it.”

Bothfeld says with Harvard and UVM signing on, the program is starting to generate momentum. She hopes to create a network of participating universities and colleges throughout New England will come on board in 2010.

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