Dem lawmaker says Vermont’s single-payer health care plan has already flatlined

Nov. 26, 2013: A doctor speaks to patients at his office in Peoria, Ill. (Reuters)

In 2011, while the rest of America argued the merits of the president's Affordable Care Act, Vermont jumped the progressive curve, promising to launch the nation's first health single-payer system, in which state government pays providers to care for all residents.

Now, even Democrats say that plan, called Green Mountain Care, isn't ready for its proposed 2017 rollout, and Rep. Jim Condon told Vermont Watchdog it's time for Gov. Peter Shumlin to shelve the ambitious plan immediately.

"The deadlines for proposing financing have been missed two years in a row now, so to me that's very disappointing. It's becoming clearer and clearer that there is no financing plan," Condon told Vermont Watchdog.

As Vermont Watchdog reported, an independent report by the Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm Avalere Health concluded that the costs of Green Mountain Care would require Vermont to raise tax revenue roughly equal to the state's tax collections from all sources today.

Condon, a Democrat from Colchester, said he thinks a single-payer system in Vermont would "cost more" than a couple of previous estimates. Those estimates pegged the cost for single-payer at anywhere from $1.6 billion to $2.2 billion annually.

"It's a government program [so] I think it's going to cost more than that. Given that, I think it would be in the best interest of Vermonters to redirect our energies away from single-payer health care to trying to improve the system we're in now," Condon added.

Condon was one of three "Blue Dog Democrats" to vote against Act 48, the legislation establishing the transition to a single-payer health care system. According to Act 48, Green Mountain Care cannot have any negative implications for Vermont's economy. But Condon said he's not aware of any other way to pay for it outside of federal funding or raising taxes. And for that reason, Condon said he's urging Gov. Shumlin not to seek a waiver from Obamacare, which the state must obtain from the federal government in order for single-payer to be implemented.

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