Shumlin Unveils Single Payer Health Plan to Controversy Posted by AVCU on 2:07 PM

As reported by WCAX News Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin unveiled his eagerly awaited single payer health care plan this week, but not without controversy.  His hope is for the Vermont Legislature to pass the bill by adjournment in May. Shumlin's plan is to be implemented over a 3 year timeline. By 2014 a complete overhaul of Vermont's $5 billion health care system will have been achieved. In 2011 two steps would be taken:

• Establish an 5-member independent board appointed by Shumlin that will develop mechanisms to reduce the per capita rate of growth in Vermont health care expenditures. The board would have broad power to determine statutory changes needed to accomplish the plan.  
• Establish a health care exchange as envisioned in the federal health care law. The exchange would provide qualified individuals and employers (up to 100 employees) with health plans no later than January 1, 2014. Medicare and Medicaid recipients would be offered health care in this way as well, if waived from the current federal programs. 

Critics of Shumlin's plan say it's short on details, including how where the funding will come from. Vermont would be the first state to enact a single payer health care plan. Watch the WCAX coverage of Shumlin's plan and its critics here.