VPR: Special Commission Would Study Affordable Health Care For All Vermonters

By Bob Kinzel

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(Racine) “What we’ve been doing in Vermont has been trying to fill in those gaps for people that are uninsured. Well, we have VHAP for some, we have Catamount for some, we’re always trying to patch it together and I think the time for patches is over. I think the time for systemic change is here.”

(Kinzel) Racine says maintaining the status quo is no longer an option because it’s estimated that Vermont’s spending on health care will increase by a billion dollars in the next 3 years:

(Racine) “That’s saying a billion dollars more is going to come out of the pockets of Vermonters and Vermont businesses and government – from taxpayer money – to provide health care in this state… and without any guarantee that we’re going to get anything better than what we have right now. And in fact it could get worse than what we have right now.”

(Kinzel) And Racine believes people should have coverage independent of their place of work:

(Racine) “We’re finding that there are a lot of uninsured people and underinsured people because people lose their jobs and they move from one job to another and they’re finding themselves without insurance. Or, in this economy, we’re finding a lot of people who are unemployed and therefore uninsured – that’s not how we get to universal access.”

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