Comment: We’d love to quote this whole article. Please follow the link to understand in detail why federal unicorn-and-rainbow health care is as unpleasant and unaffordable for the patients as it is unworkable for physicians.
“Just a few years ago, Vermont lawmakers in this left-leaning state viewed President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act as little more than a pit stop on the road to a far more ambitious goal: single-payer, universal health care for all residents.”
“Then things unraveled. The online insurance marketplace that Vermont built to enroll people in private coverage under the law had extensive technical failures. The problems soured public and legislative enthusiasm for sweeping health care changes just as Gov. Peter Shumlin needed to build support for his complex single-payer plan.”
“Finally, Shumlin, a Democrat, shelved the plan in December, citing the high cost to taxpayers.”
“[...] Vermont stands as a cautionary tale. Despite an eventual cost of up to $200 million in federal funds, its online marketplace, or exchange, is still not fully functional, while disgust with the system is running deep among residents and lawmakers alike.”
” [...] “It’s just been a spectacular crash, really,” said state Rep. Chris Pearson, a member of Vermont’s Progressive Party. “We’ve gone from this vision of being the first state to achieve universal health care to limping along and struggling to comply with the Affordable Care Act.”
“The bitterness stems partly from the fact that Vermont had some of the biggest elements of the Affordable Care Act in place long before it took effect.”
“Health insurance companies here already could not refuse to cover people, or charge them more, if they had pre-existing medical conditions. The state also already had more generous Medicaid eligibility rules than most, and programs that helped lower-income people pay for private insurance, which made it less expensive for many than the new exchange plans.“
And here, Gentle Reader, is the bottom line:
“To many Vermonters, the new federal law complicated a state system that had already provided good coverage and muddied the route to an even better model.”
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
The New York Times | June 07,2015