Vermont Can Deliver Universal Primary Care This Year

On Wednesday, January 31st, the Universal Health Care Caucus was launched in the State House cafeteria. This organization of legislators and community members from every sector of the healthcare system and community,  agreed to dedicate their political capital towards passing the bill to initiate a better healthcare system in Vermont.

The 2024 legislative session has begun! It’s shaping up to be defined by debates over people’s right to affordable housing and our government’s duty to provide adequate public services. This year universal healthcare is back in the limelight, and you can help get it over the finish line!

Bill H.156 builds on Vermont’s previous Medicaid expansion experiment to establish first-in-the-nation universal access to primary-level healthcare as a public good.

Bill H.156 is sponsored by Progressive Rep. Brian Cina of Burlington and Democratic Rep. Kevin “Coach” Christie of Hartford, along with not one, not two, but fifty-seven representatives, including the entire Progressive caucus. The bill would bring Green Mountain Care back to its original mission from 2014: act as a single-payer for healthcare expenses for all Vermonters, regardless of their insurance, income, demographic characteristics, or medical status. 

One key difference from full universal healthcare is that H.156 would only provide coverage for primary care services, including physicals, preventative care, ongoing treatment for injury and illness, and outpatient treatment for mental health and substance abuse disorders. In the program’s second year, our intent is to expand support to include dental, vision, and hearing services. 

This bill will have net positive impacts on the overall health of Vermonters. Studies show early and consistent access to preventative primary care has proven the key determinant of aggregate public health outcomes, over, and over, and over again.

Opponents of universal healthcare point at our shortage of primary care physicians. They ignore the multiple ways this bill will alleviate the shortage. 

First, the bill will free up physicians’ time. Studies show that in the present American health regime, primary care physicians spend an average of 17 hours each week solely on administrative work. Moving all payments to a single payer would eliminate a huge percentage of that load, giving doctors more time to see patients. 

Second, the bill will give Vermont an edge in recruiting physicians to the first single-payer model in the nation. Not only do an overwhelming majority of doctors support a single-payer model, but medical students from across the country who are advocating for universal healthcare will be drawn to fill out the ranks of our primary care system.

Since 2014, Vermont has led the nation in finding innovative ways to leverage national Medicare and Medicaid programs to fund Green Mountain Care. The key obstacle left to overcome is ensuring that private plans (eg. employer sponsored plans) will decrease their premiums accordingly. Oregon’s Universal Health Care Task Force recommends that 1) state-regulated insurance companies would not be allowed to offer insurance that would take the place of the plan, and 2) that all employers contribute through an employer payroll tax.