Throughout the legislative session, the job of the Vermont Senate president pro tempore tends to be a busy one. But rarely is it more hectic than in the final days before adjournment.
On Tuesday evening, however, Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint, D-Windham, took time from her schedule to attend a virtual discussion on health care hosted by the progressive advocacy organization Rights & Democracy.
The conversation focused on Medicare for All, the policy made famous by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. It featured Ady Barkan, a fierce national advocate for affordable health care who has been diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
During her remarks, Balint praised Barkan and signaled that health care reform would be a major topic for her chamber during the 2022 legislative session.
The pro tem called the existing health care system “horrible” and a “sick place for us to be as a nation.”
She added that she is interested in gathering more information about exploring systemic changes in the Vermont all-payer model, as well as exploring possible avenues made available by President Joe Biden to expand Medicare eligibility.
Other health care ideas are already being floated in the Vermont Senate.
[Get the latest status on more than 30 key pieces of legislation in VTDigger’s 2021 Bill Tracker.]
One bill, S.120, would commission a study of whether to expand Vermont’s Dr. Dynasaur program to cover people up to 26 years of age, aligning it with the federal Affordable Care Act. (The bill, which was co-sponsored by Balint and won approval in the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare this session, did not make it out of the chamber by the crossover deadline.)
Balint said Wednesday that it’s high time for the Vermont Legislature to begin discussing how to make health insurance more affordable — and to stop feeling discouraged by the state’s failed attempt to enact single payer during Gov. Peter Shumlin’s administration.
“The good news is that there’s consensus, I feel like — consensus among Vermonters and among legislators — that access to affordable health care is one of the most pressing needs that we face,” Balint said.
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