The state of Vermont has recently
been working on a single-payer health care plan for all residents. Robin Lunge,
Vermont’s director of health reform, has spent a significant amount of time
trying to make the monetary side of the plan work out. She employed Jonathan Gruber, an M.I.T.
economist, to create and run models to project the cost of Vermont’s plan under
several scenarios. As the financials became more set in stone and they closed
in on the governor’s preferred plan, they began to realize that the whole idea
was not realistic. They found that it would require around $2.5 billion in additional tax revenue, which is almost as large as the $2.7 billion that
Vermont collects in taxes annually. Lunge tried to change the figures around
but it did not work out and she had to accept that the program was going to be
much more costly than initial estimate of $1.6 billion. When they held the
press conference to announce the results, the audience was in awe as many
expected governor Shumlin to announce his plan for comprehensive health care
coverage instead of shutting it down.
I think that this has serious
implications relating to the entire country adopting universal health care. One
of the articles I read stated that: “over the past three years, Vermont has
come closer than any other state in building a publicly financed, universal health
care system” (Kliff). Vermont’s failure after being the country’s leader in
health reform does not bode well for those who are a fan of universal health
care. If they can’t pull it off how could the entire country? It clearly would
be incredibly expensive to do and we live in a country where many people are
already unhappy with the high tax rates. I do not know much about health care
policy, but thought that this was an interesting story that added some valuable
perspective.
-Parker Calandra
Sources:
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