Editor’s note: This op-ed is by state Sen. Joe Benning, a Republican who represents the Caledonia-Orange District in the Vermont Senate.
When learning to sail in a small boat it is easy to figure out when there’s a shift in the wind. If you aren’t careful you’ll get conked in the head as the boom swings in reaction. If you are really unlucky, you’ll be figuring out how to upright your boat while keeping your head above water.
In the world of politics a shift in approach is not unlike a shift in the wind, although sometimes even a major shift can be difficult to notice when it takes place. Such a shift took place recently in Vermont’s health care debate.
The administration chose to ignore the law’s deadlines, leaving the cynical among us to observe that this is all a political stunt, conveniently spread out over three election cycles.
The shift is embodied in a memo issued last week by Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell. To his credit, he has set in motion several of the Senate’s pertinent committees, chaired by some of the brightest minds in the state, to begin the difficult task of examining whether government-run health care can actually work in Vermont. Although I’d seen the memo, I didn’t really understand the significance of it until I heard Sen. Dick Mazza call for a delay in implementation in order to work out the kinks that are currently undermining the rollout of the exchange. Careful contemplation has finally overtaken political idealism. I welcome that shift in the wind. Senate leadership now has the ship’s rudder firmly in the Senate’s hands.
In truth, none of this should be the Senate’s responsibility. Act 48 gave specific directives to the Shumlin administration to produce concrete proposals for identified benefit plans, total costs and a method for payment. The administration chose to ignore the law’s deadlines, leaving the cynical among us to observe that this is all a political stunt, conveniently spread out over three election cycles. Implementation of the exchange has been an unfortunate embarrassment, making us fodder for a national press. So I see the decision to engage the most experienced minds in the Senate as relief on a stormy sea.
But we are far from safe harbor. The abstract concept of government-run health care, ideologically appealing to some and anathema to others, is serious business. Current cost projections, by no means a settled issue, demonstrate that this social change is the largest project this state has ever attempted. We are still a long way from even figuring out whether it can work. The conversation will require courage and careful contemplation. As Senate minority leader, I pledge to keep ideology and passion away from that conversation. I will, however, maintain my focus on constitutionally acceptable parameters, economic health and financial sustainability. We are, at the end of the day, all in the same boat.
