Cassandra's blog

On December 13, 2010, in anticipation of its last meeting before the legislature convenes, we gave the Healthcare Reform Commission a copy of our healthcare human rights Assessment Tool, a set of standards that follow directly from the principles of our campaign that were incorporated into Act 128. (That tool is now available online here). We also sent the commission members an email with the message set out below.

Dear Senator Kitchel and Representative Larson and other Healthcare Reform Commission Members:

On December 2, 2010, Peg Franzen and Cassandra Edson of the People's Team met with Christine Oliver, Deputy Commissioner of the Healthcare Administration, division counsel Rebecca Heintz, and Betsy Forrest of the Department of Vermont Health Care (the Medicaid office, formerly "OVHA") to present the Healthcare is a Human Right campaign's position on Vermont developing a healthcare exchange. Although we disagree fundamentally on the value of a healthcare exchange, which the campaign views as perpetuating the model of healthcare as a commodity, the meeting had some positive outcomes.

The Health Care is a Human Right campaign took the "We're All in the Same Boat" float to the Barre Heritage Day Parade today and was greeted with cheers and thanks by the crowd for all we do. We gave out hundreds of buttons and led the crowd in chants of "What do we want?" "Health care as a Human Right" "When do we want it?" "NOW!" Pictures to follow.

Today the policy committee for the Healthcare is a Human Right campaign submitted the following comments to the Healthcare Reform Commission for the members' consideration as they choose the consultant to design Vermont's new healthcare system:

1. Thank you for serving on Vermont's healthcare reform commission. As you know, Act 128 requires you to recommend one or more consultants to design a new healthcare system for Vermont. This work is of historical importance, and Vermonters are relying on you to choose wisely.

On June 28, the Health Care Reform Commission will choose the bidder it will recommend to be chosen to design three options for Vermont healthcare systems. That recommendation will go to the Joint Fiscal Committee, which will decide on June 29 which architect to hire.

With unanimous support from the 5 Democratic and 1 Republican Senators, the Senate Health and Welfare Committee voted Friday to recommend the passage of a "strike-all" version of S.88. The text showing what they replaced S.88 with can be found in Tuesday's Senate calendar, see pages 48 - 60, here:

http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/2010/calendar/SC100316.pdf#page=1

The bill is likely to go to Senate Appropriations next, since it appropriates $300,000. This money is for the board charged with designing three healthcare systems and the consultant/expert to be hired to advise the board.

We now have a bill in the Vermont legislature that explicitly recognizes healthcare as a human right. The Senate Health and Welfare Committee today released this 'strike-all" version of S.88 (meaning that the entiretly of the text in S.88 as introduced has been striken and replaced by what appears below). As legislative council and Chair Doug Racine explained, this bill authorizes a commission to design 3 single-payer health care systems for the Vermont legislature to use in building a new health care system next legislative session.

On February 16, the Senate Health & Welfare Committee presented the following outline of proposed or potential pieces of a reform bill this year. Notably, when someone asked about universal coverage, noting the outline seems not to address this major point, the committee replied that the issue of universal coverage was being dealt with in the House Healthcare Committee. Its not clear how meaningful reform will be made without uniting these issues.

The Health Care is a Human Right campaign gained a huge victory today: Doug Racine, the Chair of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, announced that he has asked for a bill to be drafted that would 'radically' change the way we fund and pay for health care in Vermont, in a way that will probably look like single payer and would be an acceleration of the time line laid out in S.88. This bill would be a committee bill that the committee would work on getting ready for passage this year.