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Vermont governor wants state single-payer system by 2014
Daily Caller ^ | 1/21/11 | Steven Nelson

Posted on 01/22/2011 4:45:11 AM PST by markomalley

Newly-elected Vermont Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin wants to put a state-based single payer system in place by 2014. In an interview with Democracy Now! Shumlin said that the system may, if enacted, use one insurance company to insure all citizens.

Job-killing legislation? Shumlin said that to the contrary, his state would be a magnet for outside companies if employers would not need to provide insurance to their workers.

Shumlin said that the state would need waivers to re-allocate federal dollars to make the program happen.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; US: Vermont
KEYWORDS: communism; healthcare; obamacare; vermont
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To: markomalley

A strange place, Vermont. Truly a land of contradictions:

1. The least-restrictive gun laws in the USA (basically none)

2. The only self-declared “Socialist” (with a capital S) member of the U.S. Congress

3. An upper-crust of extremely wealthy “trust fund babies” who immigrated from New York and Boston

4. High taxes on everything except trust-fund income

5. Extreme rural poverty that can make even West Virginia look prosperous

6. A school-choice program that Milton Friedman praised

7. Lowest “gross state product” of any U.S. state

8. An active secessionist movement that wants the state to become a separate nation

9. Only four Walmarts to spoil the scenery

And now, the promise of a full-bore, Canadian-style socialized health-insurance scheme!

What’s not to like?


21 posted on 01/22/2011 6:10:27 AM PST by Hawthorn
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To: markomalley

IDIOT hasn’t he read the polls or looked at the stats of TN and Mass on their universal experiments?


22 posted on 01/22/2011 6:15:05 AM PST by GailA (2012 rally cry DEMOCRATS and RINOS are BAD for the USA!)
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To: markomalley

Blue Cross would become Blue Cross State Insurance Company of Vermont after the state bought it out from Blue Cross with tax money. The state would then raise wages and benefits at Blue Cross State Insurance Company and change their status to Union. More & more Federal Funds would be diverted to deliver services until state payroll taxes could be increased to a level that would provide a floor level of funds. As costs increased beyond what the State could get out of state wages, the state would demand more and more Federal Money be diverted from various programs to fund it, all the while telling America what a success it is. Meanwhile, since benefit costs are not a major factor in where to locate a company (workers, transportation, regulations, nearness to transport hubs, etc. are more) nobody would even think of locating there since the long term prognosis would look very bad for the state. BUT for 10 years until it caught up with them, Vermont would propagandize about what a great system it is.


23 posted on 01/22/2011 6:16:53 AM PST by macquire
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To: markomalley

“a state-based single payer system in place by 2014”

I’m always amused by this moniker “single payer”. It really should be called “Some other payer” system, or perhaps “Every productive citizen pays, and pays, and pays” system


24 posted on 01/22/2011 6:19:13 AM PST by RFEngineer
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To: arderkrag

“If the people of VT are smart,”

An in vain expectation. The three state-wide elected officials are Sen. Bernie Sanders (Communist-VT), Sen. Patrick Leahy (Communist-VT), and Gov. Shumlin (Communist - VT). Why anyone thinks that Vermont voters are anything other than brain dead zombie morons is a mystery to me.


25 posted on 01/22/2011 6:19:50 AM PST by crusher (Political Correctness: Stalinism Without the Charm)
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To: markomalley

My Green Mountain Boys ancestors are spinning....


26 posted on 01/22/2011 6:21:24 AM PST by mewzilla (Hey, Schumer, your Lockerbie report left quite a bit out.)
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To: CPOSharky

“(Oh, yeah, the right person hasn’t been in charge. Yet.)”
Yes, I recognize the sarcasm, but you’re using a frequent argument that should be addressed. I’ve heard this about Communism and Socialism. Let’s suppose that the perfect person is found and put in charge. Here’s a hint. The guy who will denigrate the woman who raised him as a “typical white woman” isn’t the guy. But, for argument’s sake, not only is the guy you find perfect, but everybody under him is incorruptible and totally fair. (I realize there’s no such thing as “fair” as fair is subjective, but bear with me.)

These selfless incorruptibles set up and run the perfect system. The system must be part of the civil service, since that’s what service it’s providing, civil. How are people selected for Civil Service? Incorruptibility? Selflessness? Skin color? (Actually, based on what I’ve seen in our capital city, that might be the criteria.)
Eventually, the selfless, incorruptible, honest public servants will retire or die. They will be replaced by the system within which their service resides.

I have an acquaintance who works for the state health system. I called his office one day to coordinate something we were doing outside of our jobs. There was no answer and no personalized greeting. Since I didn’t know whether I’d reached the right guy, I left no message. He told me later; “Oh, I look at the display. If it’s not my wife or son, I don’t answer it.” His goal is to put in his 30 years and get the state retirement. Since he’ll be relatively young, he plans on entering a state program where he can simultaneously collect his retirement and work and get paid fulltime. He said, “That’s when the real money starts rolling in. That’s the real goal.”

My 21 years in the capital leads me to believe he’s the average state civil servant. He’s not a bad man; actually, quite nice. But Civil Service breeds this sort of behavior. So, liberal thinkers, how would you set up a system with “the right person running it?”


27 posted on 01/22/2011 6:31:12 AM PST by Gen.Blather
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To: markomalley

California leftists will ram thru SB 810 which is their single payor law real soon. The Seiu and the radical Ca Nurse Union have been pushing for it. Yes the same evil trolls that work at the DMV will be in charge of your healthcare.Obama care was really all about setting up a huge new Seiu

voting block for the Dems.


28 posted on 01/22/2011 6:34:54 AM PST by ncalburt (Get Even on Election Day)
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To: markomalley

Hey, it’s an individual state crafting what it thinks best for itself—Mitt Romney would be all for it!


29 posted on 01/22/2011 6:37:58 AM PST by 9YearLurker
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To: macquire
Blue Cross would become Blue Cross State Insurance Company of Vermont

I have insurance through them now, so I'm really interested in this topic.

Is what you wrote conjecture on your part or is it information you've read somewhere.

Thanks.

30 posted on 01/22/2011 6:40:33 AM PST by longjack
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To: markomalley
Job-killing legislation? Shumlin said that to the contrary, his state would be a magnet for outside companies if employers would not need to provide insurance to their workers.

Dream on.

31 posted on 01/22/2011 7:05:13 AM PST by lowbridge (Rep. Dingell: "Its taken a long time.....to control the people.")
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To: Hawthorn
Great post, Hawthorn. It's amazing how much of Vermont's peculiar character -- much of which can be traced back to colonial times -- has remained even in 2011.

The area now known as Vermont was a disputed territory even in colonial times. The area between Lake Champlain and the Connecticut River was subject to competing claims by the British colonial governors of both New York and New Hampshire, and the "Green Mountain Boys" of Revolutionary War fame were originally established as a local militia to enforce the legitimacy of New Hampshire land titles against claims by settlers with New York titles. The place pretty much functioned without much outside rule for decades, mainly because it was so rugged and remote that the colonial authorities knew they couldn't possibly maintain order there.

Even after the American Revolution there was a lot of uncertainty about what Vermont's future would be -- which is why Vermont was not one of the original thirteen states even though the Green Mountain Boys had played such a key role in the Revolution by sacking the British forts at Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Even after the Revolution there was some question about whether Vermont would be: (1) part of New York, (2) part of New Hampshire, (3) a state of its own, (4) an independent nation, or (5) part of the British colony then known as Lower Canada (now Quebec).

Item (5) is the most bizarre scenario, considering the colonial history of the place. But yes, I've read a number of accounts indicating that Ethan Allen -- one of the leaders of the Green Mountain Boys who had defeated the British at Ticonderoga and Crown Point -- was actively seeking to cede Vermont to Lower Canada (for the right price, of course). By the end of the American Revolution the Vermont "government" had become a neutral party in the war, and its libertarian roots can be traced to those days when it had become a haven for deserters from both sides of the Revolution.

32 posted on 01/22/2011 7:34:44 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("If you touch my junk, I'm gonna have you arrested.")
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To: RFEngineer
It really should be called “Some other payer” system, or perhaps “Every productive citizen pays, and pays, and pays” system

What it all boils down to is those that Make versus those that Take. Makers vs. Takers. Too bad for the Makers that they are squeezed from above by an effete, parasitical Ruling class of criminal Banksters, powermad Government insiders, and traitorous multinational Corporations; and also squeezed from below by hordes of hostile, uncivilized layabouts protected by the Ruling class. They are a tag-team of bullies that scheme to bleed us dry of both our wealth and our liberties. Its an extremely difficult trap to escape from.

33 posted on 01/22/2011 8:13:43 AM PST by Roninf5-1 (If ignorance is bliss why are so many Americans on anti-depressants?)
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To: CarWashMan
employers will not have to provide insurance, but they will be taxed up the wazoo

Right. What part of the-money-has-to-come-from-somewhere do these people not get? And this guy's the governor!

34 posted on 01/22/2011 8:30:31 AM PST by BfloGuy (It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we can expect . . .)
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To: markomalley

Ooh, OOH! Pick me! Pick me!

I promise to offer the lowest-cost health insurance in history... really! Just sign the perpetual contract!

Thanks!

Oh, I forgot to mention that since there isn’t any competition... I’m now raising my rates 40-fold next year. With a good chance that for the year after, it’ll have a 90-fold increase.

You want to switch to my competition? What competition? Oh, and if you try... that violates the contract you signed. You’ll now have to pay a 1000-fold cancellation charge based on the projected yearly costs.

Does that bankrupt your state? Oh, well... that ain’t my problem, sucker!


35 posted on 01/22/2011 8:54:54 AM PST by gogogodzilla (Live free or die!)
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To: Hawthorn

Who wants to bet that Wal-Mart says ‘goodbye’??


36 posted on 01/22/2011 9:50:25 AM PST by ridesthemiles
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To: ridesthemiles

>> Who wants to bet that Wal-Mart says ‘goodbye’? <<

No betting from me. I imagine Walmart will be able to get special legislation from the U. S. Congress so that their federal “waiver” will also prevent Vermont (or any other state) from imposing additional health insurance requirements on them.

But if Walmart DID leave Vermont, it would be ironic in the extreme — since the company fought for so many years against the environmental wackos to open in Vermont. In fact, VT was the very last state to have a Walmart.

(On the other hand, you can be sure the billionaire trust fund babies of Waitsfield — VT’s wealthiest place — will never allow a Walmart in THEIR “unspoiled” town!)


37 posted on 01/22/2011 10:33:35 AM PST by Hawthorn
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To: Alberta's Child

>> Vermont’s peculiar character <<

It’s really an interesting — if bizarre — case study, all the more so when compared with capitalistic, free-market New Hampshire next door.

It seems to me that VT is a very bad place if you’re a blue-collar or rural person. On the one hand, the environmental restrictions and the general anti-business climate don’t hurt the trust fund babies from New York and Boston who now dominate the state’s politics. They already have plenty of riches, so they can afford to pay exorbitant prices for groceries and other necessities. But on the other hand, working class folk in VT can’t take full advantage of the low-cost, big-scale retailers who have raised the real standard of living for most of the USA. And to make matters worse, very few large companies would even consider investing in VT to produce the jobs so badkt needed by the state’s minimum-wage and blue collar workers.

Still, the scenery is gorgeous abd the skiing is fantastic!


38 posted on 01/22/2011 10:47:34 AM PST by Hawthorn
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