Posted on 05/26/2011 9:57:07 AM PDT by Libloather
Shumlin signs health care reform bill into law
Montpelier, Vermont - May 26, 2011
Vermont is officially on its way to a single-payer, publicly-funded health care system.
Thursday morning Governor Peter Shumlin signed into law legislation that's getting the process started.
The bill creates a five-member board that will work with the governor and the Legislature to design the system for bringing health coverage to all Vermonters. The group is charged with determining how the system will be funded and implemented. The governor is seeking applications for the new board.
Opponents say the move will destroy the private insurance market in Vermont for groups below 100 people. They also raise concerns over the final price tag of the plan and what the new board will be able to accomplish.
(Excerpt) Read more at wcax.com ...
Next step to form a coalition with Assachusetts?
Since health care expenditures typically represent about 15% of GNP, the State of Vermont would need revenue equal to about 15% of the GSP (Gross State Product). That’s assuming that The Green Mountain State is not overwhelmed by freeloaders coming to the state for “free” health care. When that occurs, the state will need an even greater increase in revenue.
Good thing VT is a small state. At least patients will be able to follow their doctors to NH. With legalization of private clinics in most of Canada, even Quebec might be an option.
Wow! A quart er 14 oz of Cherry Garcia will be $9.50! Yippee!
“the State of Vermont would need revenue equal to about 15% of the GSP (Gross State Product).”
You missed the point. Both Romneycare and the new system in VT are heavily subsidized by federal taxpayers. Indeed, absent federal subsidies, Romneycare likely never would have gotten off the ground.
If Vermont is exempted from ObamaCare, it should forfeit federal subsidies.
You’ll get no quarrel from me. The reality is that the law was structured to encourage states to move in a single payer direction, as such states get to keep all their federal subsidies so long as they can show they meet all the new insurance mandates and expand coverage as much under their single payer systems as would have happened under Obamacare. In short, any state willing to be MORE regulatory and intrusive can get a waiver.
Any state seeking to move in a more market-oriented direction would get denied since markets are best equipped to respond to the heterogeneous preferences of consumers. But this is antithetical to the “one-size-fits-all”/ consumers-are-too-ignorant-to-know-what’s-good-for-them philosophy that permeates Obamacare. The sooner the law is repealed in the courts or Congress, the better. The more reform gets embedded, the harder it will be to eradicate—just like kudzu.
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