In Springfield, Shumlin pushes single-payer

Gov. Peter Shumlin promoted his health care reform plan in Springfield Monday

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20110329/NEWS02/703299913/1003/NEWS02

Published March 29, 2011 in the Rutland Herald

In Springfield, Shumlin pushes single-payer

By SUSAN SMALLHEER

SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Peter Shumlin brought his message of single- payer health care to Springfield Monday, and ran into some skepticism.

Shumlin championed a single-payer system during his successful gubernatorial campaign in 2010, and so far the Vermont House has passed his ambitious plan.

But speaking at a joint session of the Springfield Rotary Club and the Springfield Chamber of Commerce at the Hartness House Inn on Monday, questions focused on the speed of the proposed reform and how the change will be paid for.

Paul Kendall, a local insurance agent, questioned the governor on the speed of the reform. “Are we rushing it too much?” Kendall asked.

Shumlin said that much of the criticism of the single-payer plan claimed that reform was “moving too fast.”

But he said that not addressing one of the most important economic issues facing Vermonters was way too important to delay.

Shumlin, repeatedly referring to his business background as an owner of Putney Student Travel, said Vermont businesses found themselves in what he called “The Golden Triangle,” bouncing from the three insurance firms that offer health insurance in Vermont: Cigna, Blue Cross Blue Shield and MVP.

“I don’t think we can move fast enough,” he told Kendall.

The future of doctors and hospitals are on the line, he said, not just the health care of individuals.

He told the story of a Winooski doctor who had to close his practice and move to New York “because he couldn’t make ends meet” on the reimbursements from his patients, most of whom had government insurance.

Shumlin noted that Vermont stood to lose some of its small community hospitals if reform wasn’t coming, noting that health care costs were escalating at a rate two or three times higher than the rate of inflation.

The initial focus of single-payer is to study cost containment, he said. Currently, the United States pays 28 percent of the gross national product on health care.

Shumlin said that under one plan, Vermonters would be issued a “Green Mountain Card” that would pay for 90 percent of health care charges, with the balance due from the client, with the bill being paid before someone left the doctor’s office or hospital.

Town Manager Robert Forguites wanted to know where the funding of the single-payer system would come from.

“Where is that $900 coming from?” he asked, referring to Shumlin’s example.

Shumlin said that currently Vermonters spend $5 billion a year on health care, and that it will hit $7 billion in a few years.

He said that Vermont businesses “with a conscience” were currently paying for health care when they offered health insurance to their employees.

Shumlin said the current, inefficient system was unsustainable and had to be changed.

Glenn Cordner, the chief executive officer of Springfield Medical Care Systems, the parent organization of the Springfield Hospital, said his organization was focusing on preventative care and keeping people healthy, because once they landed in the hospital the costs were going to be high.

“We need to keep people healthy in the first place,” he said.

Cordner agreed with Shumlin’s assessment that hospital administrators “don’t think it’s rosy.”

Shumlin praised the Edgar May Health and Recreation Center, which he had toured earlier in the day, noting he had met “an 87-year-old man on the weight machine.”