Ask Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to allow Vermont to implement its better health care plan for universal coverage.
Click here to sign our letter.
Single-payer health care is on the move in Vermont. We need your help to make it a reality.
Today Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin signed into law a plan that could put Vermont on the path to becoming the first state with a truly progressive universal health care system.
If successful, Vermont’s plan would provide health coverage to every resident of the state without forcing people to become customers of the private insurance industry. Yet Vermont won’t be able to fully achieve this goal without multiple waivers from federal health care programs to pursue its better plan.
Kathleen Sebelius is President Obama’s Secretary of Health and Human Services. She’s a critical decision maker in allowing Vermont to pursue its plan for a more effective unified health system. Can you sign our petition to Secretary Sebelius asking her to grant Vermont favorable terms on every waiver the state requests?
Vermont’s new law will reform health care at the state level and take a massive step towards a fairer, more efficient system. The state’s plan would incorporate some of the proven cost control features of a single payer system, such as simplified administration and negotiation for fair prices for pharmaceuticals.
That’s why the for-profit health insurance industry and groups like PhRMA see real Vermont’s health care reform as a serious threat. They know that if truly progressive reform succeeds and becomes popular in Vermont, it will spread to other states.
No doubt these corporate opponents of universal health care will use their national lobbying power to do what they do best: they will work behind the scenes to quietly impede or cripple Vermont's efforts at every turn on the federal level. If the Obama administration does not grant all the waivers Vermont needs, the system could fall short of its true potential.
We need your help to tell Secretary Sebelius that we plan to fight for Vermont every step of the way.
President Obama actually endorsed the idea of allowing states to pursue better health care plans during a speech earlier this year. Now that Vermont is ready to move forward with a better plan, his Administration can make good on its commitment.
In order for Vermont to achieve the full potential of its plan, the federal government needs to grant the state waivers from federal programs like Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare Part D and the new Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Health care waivers aren’t something rare. The federal government recently granted McDonald’s and 29 other corporations waivers to offer their employees worse health care plans than currently required by federal law. We’re asking for Vermont to get waivers to pursue a far better health care plan.
Vermont is a small state trying to take on both a big problem and well-connected corporate interests. With your help, we can make their ambitious plan a reality on the road to universal health care. I can't promise the fight will be short, but I can promise it will be one of the meaningful fights this century.
Thank you for your support.
Onward,
Jon Walker
Firedoglake.com
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