By Lisa M. Boucher
Editor’s note: Lisa M. Boucher is a freelance reporter who lives in Fairfax.
BURLINGTON—About a dozen nurses and technical professionals gathered in front of Fletcher Allen Health Care to announce their endorsement of Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Sen. Peter Shumlin, on Tuesday.
The small group represented the 4,000 members of United Professions/American Federation of Teachers of Vermont. The union includes nurses, technical professionals, faculty, and professional staff at Fletcher Allen Health Care, Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, Vermont State Colleges, UVM, and Mill River Union School.
Mari Cordis, a nurse at Fletcher Allen and president of the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Care Professionals, said her members back Shumlin because they support a single payer system. Shumlin has long been an advocate for a government-administered health care system.
Shumlin told union members that he is committed to bringing universal health care to Vermonters. He said he believes the federal government will give the state waivers for a single-payer health care system with the assistance of Vermont’s congressional delegation in Washington.
Congress must pass new legislation in order for Vermont to obtain a waiver, according to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ office. Shumlin said Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., have told him they believe it is possible to get the waivers before 2017 when new federal rules go into effect.
In a press release on Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie’s campaign slammed Shumlin for being dishonest about his health care plan.
“Peter Shumlin can talk up his plan for health care all he wants, but that does not make it more true,” Dubie campaign manager Corry Bliss said. “It’s all smoke aimed at covering up the fact that pursuing a single-payer system before 2017 would violate federal law, and there is no evidence that any of the promises Peter Shumlin is making have any basis in reality.”
Shumlin said he can obtain the waivers.
“Brian Dubie says we can’t do it … that federal law precludes us from doing it,” said Shumlin. “That’s what they said when we went to pass Dr. Dynasaur, the first insurance plan in the country that insured that all Vermont kids had access to health insurance. We needed waivers for that—we got them. That’s what they told us when we wanted to use global budgeting in our Medicare budgets, we got the waivers. I’ve proven that I’ve been part of a process that can get the waivers to get things done. That’s the kind of governor we need right now.”
Tina Blust, a nurse and the president of Vermont Technical College nursing faculty, said she believes the health care crisis has had an impact on Vermont colleges.
“As a nursing instructor in Brattleboro, I’ve seen how the health care crisis has limited our students of opportunities after graduating,” Blust said. “Decreased access to health care equals a decreased number of patients that can get into hospitals therefore decreasing the number of nursing positions.”
Blust also said that Shumlin supports the objectives of the Vermont Commission on Higher Education Funding report that proposed increasing the number of post-secondary graduates in Vermont from 42 percent to 60 percent.
“He (Shumlin) knows that training and preparing our work force allows Vermonters to earn a livable wage,” said Blust. “This is becoming more and more difficult.”
Shumlin fielded questions about how much money his health care plan would save.
He said no savings would be evident initially and that it would take at least four years to fully implement the plan. He said Vermonters spend $1 million a day on health care and that rate of expenditure is unsustainable. He pointed to administrative costs as one area of savings.
“We’re delusional if we keep pretending that everything is OK,” Shumlin said. “We’re not going to grow jobs, we’re not going to get Vermonters back to work. I want to talk about the opportunities instead of the challenges.”
In a press release, Shumlin said as a small business owner he understands how health insurance costs are crushing Vermonters. His plan, he wrote, will remove the insurance company profits from the picture.
“Brian Dubie was asked what he paid for his health insurance and he said he didn’t know,” said Jennifer Henry FAHC RN, Vice President Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Care Professionals, and President of United Professions of Vermont. “Perhaps this is why he thinks that just nibbling around the edges is good enough…Brian Dubie’s lack of a plan to address skyrocketing health care costs is irresponsible and out of touch.”
