Obamacare is radical? Vermont thinks even bigger, with single-payer plan.

By Mike Eckel, Contributor / July 19, 2012



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Tiny, quirky Vermont is at it again, tackling pressing social concerns with a progressive vengeance. This time, it’s health care, and if all goes well, by 2017 or even earlier, the state of 626,000 plans to become the first in the country to adopt a single-payer system. But there’s serious uncertainty about what it will look like, and how it will be paid for.

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Last year, the Green Mountain State one-upped the Bay State when its Democratic-controlled legislature passed “An Act Relating to a Universal and Unified Health System,” laying out a roadmap for a single-payer system.

Such systems have been used in other countries – Canada, notably – but in Vermont, the idea is that everyone would be insured through a state-funded pool called Green Mountain Care. A five-member agency called the Green Mountain Care Board ultimately would all but govern the health-care delivery system, including setting rates for everyone from primary-care physicians to cardiologists and for everything from broken bones to open-heart surgery. For now, employers with self-insured plans – such as IBM, a major employer in Vermont – would be able to keep their current coverage.

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n an interview, Governor Shumlin says a mix of payroll taxes and other revenues, including federal, will help fund the system, which he wants in place even earlier— by 2016.

“You will be eligible for the Green Mountain health-care system by virtue of your residency, no mandate needed,” he says. “Your health care will be paid for by all, by a publicly funded system.

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http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2012/0719/Obamacare-is-radical-Vermont-thinks-even-bigger-with-single-payer-plan

Obamacare radical? That's a laugh.