Symington Says...
Caught the Speaker of the House's Friday "brown-bagger" via telephone today. And Gaye Symington said some things that certainly made my ears stand up. Sure sounded like she conceded they - the Democrats - have left a whole lot undone healthcare-wise. Said Speaker Gaye:
"We passed what was a fairly comprehensive approach to restructuring
how we would pay for and deliver healthcare in this state [in 2005]. The Governor
vetoed that.
"We were not able to override that veto.
"And we made a
decision a year later to make an enormous compromise, which was to use
the healthcare insurance as the delivery mechanism. And the bottom line
for us has been that it needed to be comprehensive healthcare. And
we’re on that road and once you make that decision you have a lot of
work ahead of you to make that work."
Speaker Gaye acknowledged H.304, Rep. Topper McFaun's healthcare reform bill that yours truly wrote about in this week "Inside Track." That's the healthcare reform bill providing hospitalization coverage for all Vermonters that wasn't supposed to see the light of day, the one that will be getting some attention after all. Said the House Speaker:
“I know [House Healthcare Committee Chair] Steve Maier is taking a lot of testimony about that bill and there are significant questions around H.304. I think H.304, I mean regardless of the details of it, step back from the details - H.304 basically reflects people’s impatience with the pace of healthcare reform and their impatience with using this compromise we made after the original veto."
Good observation, Madame Speaker!
P.S. Want to get up to speed on H.304 AND see Chairman Maier on the hot seat in his hometown? Check out this meeting on healthcare reform that was shot in Middlebury at the end of November. No beating around the bush....
Our method of tying medical care to work/insurance doesn't make any sense. You need health care whether you are working or not and whether you have insurance or not.
No way around creating an actual health care system that may be privately run but divorces work from health care and insurance from health care.
When you have "institutions" that are as screwed up as our lack of a health care system and our "War Against Drugs" they need radical change - - half measures don't cut it.
Decriminalization only perpetuates the foolishness of our current system. Legalization/taxation/regulation is what should happen.
I hope the Speaker can prevail this session.
PJ
Posted by: Peter Joes | Friday, January 25, 2008 at 05:02 PM