by Bruce Lisman There they go again. The Democratic candidates for Governor are promising to resuscitate the discredited idea of single payer. After four excruciating years of dancing around the issue of cost, Peter Shumlin finally abandoned single payer when he was forced to admit that Vermont couldn’t afford it. Now, just 12 months after Governor Shumlin announced he would not stand for reelection – his political capital squandered on a series of bungled attempts at health care reform – Matt Dunne proclaimed in a press conference that he intends to pick up where Shumlin left off, and force Vermont into a single payer system.
Single payer is a bad idea. From the moment Shumlin proposed it, it was clear that the cost would be prohibitive. Nonetheless, he dragged the state through three years of uncertainty and confusion before finally admitting the obvious. And now as time runs out on his administration, Governor Shumlin is hoping to plunge Vermont into yet another health care experiment.
The state is in the late stages of so-called “All Payer Waiver” negotiations with the federal government that would radically change our health care system. Whatever the pros and cons of a new health care model might be, it is unconscionable that our lame duck Governor, who’s every effort at health care reform has been an unmitigated disaster, should be allowed to launch a new health care experiment on Vermonters without any sort of public debate.
That is why this election matters so much. This is our chance to stand up and say “Stop”! This is our chance to tell the politicians that they must hear us when we say that we are tired of bad ideas badly executed.
We are tired of throwing bad money after good in a failed attempt to run our own health exchange. We are sick of grand schemes to lead the nation in utopian health care reform ideas. We simply want competent management. We want honest leadership. And when it comes to healthcare, we want more choice, and greater affordability.
It is clear the Democratic candidates are not listening. Despite patient outrage over Vermont Health Connect, despite public exasperation over the single payer fiasco, despite the fiscal reality that we simply can’t afford it, Mr. Dunne and his fellow candidates will not be deterred. Their ideological priorities will never yield to reality.
And what about my opponent, Phil Scott? He is not a starry-eyed believer in single payer like the Democrats, but neither is he resolutely against it. As the senior Republican elected official, he had a platform from which to speak out against bad ideas like single payer. In fact, he had a duty to stand up for all those Vermonters who were desperate for somebody to be a voice of reason, somebody who could articulate the case against what was so obviously a bad idea.
Sadly, Phil failed to show any sort of conviction. He spent years waffling, saying he needed more information, or wanted to keep an open mind. As late as 2014, he said about single payer, “I try to be objective because I’ve argued that I don’t have enough information to know whether it works here in Vermont. So it’s difficult for me to oppose something when I don’t know what it is”.
It is preposterous to say that three years into the slow motion train wreck of single payer that Phil didn’t have enough information. When single payer was just a glimmer in Peter Shumlin’s eye it was clear to anyone with basic math skills that the cost would end up being around $2 billion. It was clear that Vermont didn’t have some magical capability to pull off a system that had never been implemented or even attempted in any other state. Phil Scott simply lacked the intellectual curiosity to understand the issue thoroughly, and lacked the backbone to ever say ‘no’.
I am the only candidate who has been opposed to single payer from day one. I am the only candidate who has promised to increase choice rather than limit it. I am the only candidate who has promised to end Vermont Health Connect and move to the federal exchange. I am the only candidate that Vermonters can trust to look out for patient rights and taxpayer protection.
Vermonters can’t afford more bad ideas or weak leadership. It’s time for a new direction – instead of the usual politicians motivated by ideology, or concerned with their own likability, it’s time for a Governor who is committed to simply doing what is right for Vermonters.
That means controlling the budget, bringing choice and affordability back into healthcare, introducing proper ethics standards for our elected officials, restoring local control in education and respecting community rights in renewable energy siting. I am the only candidate who has been clear and unequivocal since day one that I will stand up for Vermonters.
As such, I ask for your vote in the Republican primary on August 9th, or today at your town hall. Thank you.