If single payer health care saves so much money, why didn't Vermont adopt it?

[hill2016]

Just curious.

[vt_native]

1. Because Peter Shumlin ran as a liberal and governed as a Third Wayer

[hill2016]

2. oh

I was thinking it was because the maths doesn't work or something.

where the rubber meets the road...

[beam me up scottie]

9. Bingo.

Don't you love all these flatlanders 'splaining what went wrong from on high at Camp Weathervane?

Damn that Bernie for not being able to wave a magic wand and get state legislation passed from his office in Washington DC.

Let's not even try at all, coronate the queen and be happy with our lot.

[Depaysement]

14. Sorry but

I thought the first sentence was hysterical.

[beam me up scottie]

18. For months I've had to listen to these "experts" blather on about Vermont.

It's too white, too blue, too progressive, now it's not progressive enough, blah blah blah.

Ever since Bernie's announcement from the waterfront in Burlington when they counted dark faces in the crowd and declared "Not Good Enough, Bernie!". They even criticized him because there were yachts in the background ffs.

Vermonters are supposed to be ashamed of where we're from according to these arm chair activists.

Sorry, rant over. Thanks for getting it.

[Fawke Em]

28. If I could get my elderly Mom to move, I'd be in Vermont or

someplace in New England.

I LIKE the cold.

I LIKE progressives.

I LIKE making more money.

But, alas, my Mom would be alone if my family moved, so it's not to be (and she won't move. She thinks Tennessee is cold! LOL)

[beam me up scottie]

36. I wish I could get my s/o to move to Vermont.

I do believe the cold would kill him.

[NCTraveler]

3. At 18th in per capita income...

It seems they should have the income necessary.

[JonLeibowitz]

30. A question: can a person making $100k fund their own health insurance plan

at reasonable costs? And guarantee that any health issue that pops up will be covered?

If the answer is no, then that means there is a break-even point where the economies of scale that single-payer health insurance relies on kicks in.

Now, this is not to say that VT could or could not implement SP healthcare. It does mean that United States should have an easier time with the budgeting than Vermont, provided that is what prevented Vermont from succeeding in implementing the plan.

[arcane1]

4. Which has what to do with the Dem primary?

[yeoman6987]

10. Probably because senator sanders' homestate said no to single payer. And he campaigns on the topic.

That's just a hunch to your question.

[Kingofalldems]

15. Wow. And you are a Sanders supporter?

Your post doesn't seem the least bit supportive.

Yet just a while back:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251417437

Did you change your mind or something?

[msongs]

5. perhaps because of the extremely small population? nt

[hill2016]

8. you do realize that Sanders' single payer plan

will be administered by the states?

[Bluenorthwest]

17. And yet not paid for entirely by each single State. Which is the point, not the administration but

the financing. Vermont is a very small pool for making such a system, the US is not.

[hill2016]

24. so where are the costs savings in administration going to come from?

[MannyGoldstein]

32. Private insurers spend about 20% on 'overhead'

Medicare, about 2%.

[Agnosticsherbet]

6. According to the governor of Vermont

Why single payer died in Vermon
“It is not the right time for Vermont” to pass a single-payer system, Shumlin acknowledged in a public statement ending his signature initiative. He concluded the 11.5 percent payroll assessments on businesses and sliding premiums up to 9.5 percent of individuals’ income “might hurt our economy.”

[JaneyVee]

7. Because it cost too much money.

[Warren DeMontague]

11. If Private Insurance works so damn much better, why not scrap Medicare?

just curious.

[Tace]

12. Shumlin Didn't Want To Chase Co's From Vermont

It turned out that some of the few big companies operating in Vermont self-insure and threatened to leave the state if Shumlin's plan was implemented.

[leftofcool]

13. It cost too much to tax payers?

[sleepyvoter]

16. Ask the Hillary supporter Shumlin as to why he killed it.

While you're at it, why not ask him about his neighborly screwing?

[zipplewrath]

19. Can't be done state to state

Especially small states such as this. Too much cross border shenanigans for one thing. Also, they don't have the negotiation clout to accomplish much. It's the same reason Texas dominates the text book industry so much, and California can have special emission standards. Single payer should start at the federal level. Texas or California, and maybe Florida could try it on a state level, (although I suspect Florida's income level is too low to support it). But in the end, it's a bit like gun control, on a local or state level you just can't get the result you're looking for.

[DianeK]

20. wait...did i stumble upon

a Republican web site?

[hill2016]

25. yup

look at how viciously Hillary is attacked here.

[riderinthestorm]

21. Economies of scale. Single payer needs everyone in, not just a small fraction

to make it economically feasible.

[hill2016]

26. Sanders' plan

is for single payer to be administered by the states.

What does that do for economies of scale?

[JonLeibowitz]

31. Administered is not the same as paid for by.

[riderinthestorm]

33. Drug price negotiations will be more successful with 50 states bargaining

as a block rather than one (small) state for example.

Federal programs can be administered by each state. Education comes to mind, as does various EPA efforts.

There are models

[GoneFishin]

22. People wanted it, not all political decision makers did. Ambitious plans are easily sabotaged by

one well placed insider whose goals are not aligned with the majority.

[Autumn]

23. What's Hillary been up to lately? nt

[hill2016]

27. proposing

tax credits for the middle class.

[jeff47]

29. Actually, she was proposing a tax credit for the poor.

Those "caregivers" don't make anywhere near enough to be middle class.

But hey, I'm sure they can hold on until they get one lump sum every year. WAAAAY better than actually closing the loophole that keeps minimum wage from applying to them.

[Autumn]

38. Oh the tax credit thing? How does that help the middle class? Will the poor be

eligible?

[MaggieD]

34. Because it doesn't save money

[Oilwellian]

35. Perhaps because Obamacare prevents any state from implementing it til 2017?

State or Federal Single Payer?

In 2017, states will be able to get a waiver to set up their own approved health care solutions, as long as they meets the standards of the Affordable Care Act. This will technically allow states to implement single payer systems on a state level, Vermont has already stated this is the direction they will take. Single payer systems are typically thought of something handled by the federal government, but in America it more likely that we will see single payer on a state level first.

The success of a state-based single payer program is likely to have an influence over whether or not we implement a single payer system as a country. “RomneyCare” was implemented in Massachusetts years before “ObamaCare” (which uses an almost identical framework) became “the law of the land”.

Obamacare Facts

I guess you thought this was a gotcha question. LOL

[My Good Babushka]

37. Probably because we've let health insurance companies

and hospital groups grow so large, they are too big for a single state to negotiate with them. They act like their own countries and set all the conditions. The power is still all on one side. It would take everybody in, at this point, to balance it out.