[grundle]

Vermont is planning to start a single payer health care system in 2017. It will require $1.6 billion per year in new taxes. In the year 2012, the state collected $2.7 billion in taxes. So this would require a huge tax increase.

But I support states' rights, and I don't live in Vermont, so I don't have anything against Vermont doing this. I view this the way a scientist views an experiment. I'm curious to see how it turns out.

[relictele]

Let us all resolve to eschew the term ‘single payer.’

What statists mean is SINGLE PROVIDER i.e. strict socialized medicine.

The PAYERS (plural) will be the same as usual - the dwindling productive sector.

[GeronL]

its going to be a lot more than expected and fail miserably

I oppose tyranny on the federal AND state level

[Buckeye McFrog]

I am truly hoping that Vermont WILL do this.

They will be broke in two years.
Will serve as a very visible warning to all the rest of us.

Better it happen to a tiny state with 600,000 people than, say, California.

[napscoordinator]

I guess it will work like Medicare where you pay the same price each month. So everyone pays 113 dollars a month instead of various amounts. It will save some people money but will increase others. I just wonder about a family with four kids for example. Will that be 113 per person? I think it is a wait and see at this point. Again states rights should always win out. The problem with Obamacare is that it is federal. Each state should decide how they want to do their healthcare.

[CaptainK]

I’ve been reading that there is a heroin epidemic in Vermont, so all those addicts should be ecstatic that their rehabs will be on the backs of the taxpayers.

[kingu]

Assuming that they can get Medicare and other federal funds transferred into this insanity, the NEW taxes for EVERY citizen in Vermont is $2600 per year, so an average family of 4 is looking at more than $10,000 in new taxes. But wait, let’s do this right - Since less than half of the people actually pay taxes, that’s $20,000 per family they’ll have to suck up.

Average household income in Vermont is $54,000.

Yep, that’s a plan that will work.

[BookmanTheJanitor]

It will require $1.6 billion per year in new taxes

....that's what they say.

[Pajamajan]

bookmark

[Blood of Tyrants]

This should be instructive for those who hope -- or fear -- that Obamacare has all been an elaborate preliminary to a nationwide single-payer system. It isn’t. The politics are impossible, and even if they weren’t, the financing would be unthinkable.

JUST BECAUSE IT IS IMPOSSIBLE AND UNWORKABLE HAS NEVER STOPPED THE LIBERALS FROM FOISTING THEIR BAD IDEAS ON THE REST OF US.

[okie01]

But I support states' rights, and I don't live in Vermont, so I don't have anything against Vermont doing this. I view this the way a scientist views an experiment. I'm curious to see how it turns out.

Well, to start with, another $1.6 billion in taxes distributed across a population of 620,000 translates to $2581 per capita -- or about $9000 per household.

In other words, having "free" health insurance will cost Vermonters something over $200 per capita per month (or about $750/month per family).

And, as we all recognize, that's almost certainly an optimistic estimate.