Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin Moves to Create Single-Payer Healthcare System
The Loss of a Good Man
By BOB HERBERT
It was like reading fiction. Scott Stossel, in his book, “Sarge: The Life and Times of Sargent Shriver,” described a harrowing World War II sea battle that erupted off Guadalcanal on the night of Nov. 14, 1942:
“The foremast was hit. Electrical fires erupted continuously, all around Shriver. Whole gun crews were killed by flying shells. The ship began to slow down, and more Japanese rounds ripped across the deck, killing an officer in the radar plotting room. Three rounds exploded in another battle station, killing a half dozen more men. Steam lines were severed, and the hot, hissing steam scalded numerous sailors. Ladders between decks got knocked out, making putting out fires and attending to the growing scores of wounded much more difficult. Shriver himself was wounded when metal shrapnel from an explosion lodged itself in his shoulder, a wound for which he was later to be awarded a Purple Heart.”
It was such a different time, an era when it was considered shameful for men to run and hide when their nation was at war. Now we send other people’s children off to war willy-nilly, and the rest of us go shopping. (At least until someone steeped in the business philosophy of Neutron Jack Welch takes our jobs away.)
In a turnabout, governor breaks with unions on health care plans
For much of his first term, Governor Deval Patrick helped protect public employee unions from dramatic increases in their members’ health care insurance costs.
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/articles/2011/01/22/governor_breaks_with_unions_on_health_insurance/
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/articles/2011/01/22/governor_breaks_with_unions_on_health_insurance/
From Patrick, A Bracing Cut, But A Welcome Change Of Heart
GOVERNOR PATRICK threw cold water on the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Municipal Association yesterday when he announced that his state budget proposal will call for a
7 percent reduction in non-school aid to cities and towns. That’s not entirely a surprise, and is necessary with the state facing a nearly $2 billion shortfall. But it also makes four years running that mayors, selectmen, and town managers will need to find ways to keep their communities afloat despite cuts in local aid.
Patrick told the local officials that they could more than make up for the loss of $65 million in local aid by embracing measures to reduce the health care costs of municipal employees. No shock there. For years, municipal managers have been begging lawmakers and the governor to give them the same flexibility the state enjoys when designing health plans for public employees. But rarely could they get their points across, even in a state where rising health care costs for school employees routinely gobble up all new state dollars for education.
Time For A New Debate On Health Care : NPR
The U.S. House repealed the health care reform on Wednesday, a move that many say is merely symbolic.
John Nichols writes about politics forThe Nation magazine as its Washington correspondent. He is a contributing writer for The Progressive and In These Times and the associate editor of the Capital Times, the daily newspaper in Madison, Wisconsin.
Americans are divided over the question of how best to reform a dysfunctional healthcare system.
But the new Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives entertains no doubt about what must be done: the for-profit insurance industry must be restored to its "proper" place as the determiner of who gets care — and how much they will have to pay.
Insurance Execs Not Happy With Hsiao’s Single Payer
By Russell Mokhiber
Single Payer Action, January 20, 2011
Single Payer Action, January 20, 2011
Harvard Professor William Hsiao is a single payer supporter.
Twenty years ago, he helped push through a single payer system for Taiwan.
And now, he wants to do something similar in Vermont.
Over the past couple of months, Hsiao has been working feverishly – with a team of 20 researchers – to finish a report to the Vermont legislature on how to best implement a single payer system for the state.
Yesterday, he delivered his 132-page report.
And at the beginning of his one hour presentation to the legislature in Montpelier, he made it clear that “what I’m going to present is not necessarily popular for everyone.”
“Recently I was talking to an insurance executive,” Hsiao said.
“And I asked him if he was in favor of spending $50 billion to manufacture a new shuttle to the moon.”
“And he says – yes, if you will go.”
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