Vermont Legislature Votes to Begin Designing 'Single-Payer' System

[babylonsister]

Published on Saturday, April 24, 2010 by the Associated Press
Vermont Legislature Votes to Begin Designing 'Single-Payer' System


MONTPELIER, Vt. - Vermont lawmakers made clear Friday that recently enacted federal health care reform did not go far enough toward a public model, passing legislation that could bring to the state the "public option" health insurance rejected by Washington or even a Canadian-style single-payer system.


Cover us all: Advocates of a single-payer health care system rally on the University of Vermont campus in Burlington before a 2009 White House-organized forum.

By a vote of 91-42, the Democratic controlled House passed its own version of legislation passed earlier by the Senate. Both bills call for designing a single-payer system, in which a government agency would administer and make all payments for health care.

The House version calls for that as well as a parallel design of a system with a public option for health insurance, meaning a system in which a health insurance program offered by the government would compete against those offered by private companies. The House's version also would expand previously enacted reform efforts.

Either system would require federal approval.

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http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/04/24-3