Thanks to everyone who called into the State House. Thanks to you we are one step closer to universal health care for all Vermonters.
The Vermont House of Representatives is debating Vermont’s comprehensive health care reform bill (H.202), and will likely vote on it on Thursday March 23rd. In the next few hours there will be attempts to stall the bill, and there will be amendments introduced to weaken it.
The cost of our current broken health care system is simply too high – that’s a fact. Thousands of Vermonters are struggling to pay off their medical bills and get the care they need. H.202 puts us on the path towards a health care system that is universal, affordable, transparent – and fair. Everyone participates, and most importantly, everyone would be covered.
Legislators are being told by industry lobbyists that they’re moving too fast, or being too ambitious. Nothing could be further from the truth and most Vermonters want change in a big way. But we’ve seen these scare tactics work over and over again, in Vermont and around the country, as ambitious reforms get stalled indefinitely or scaled back. Opponents of universal, sustainable health care want to keep the status quo because it suits them, and their profit margins; they don’t want Vermont to deal with the system as a whole.
The simple fact is, ensuring that all Vermonters have access to essential health benefits is the right thing to do, and we’re not going to get there by chipping at the edges of the problem.
We need real, system-wide reform. If you believe that, I hope you’ll take one minute right now and call the State House to leave a message for your Representative(s). You’ll reach the Sergeant at Arms office, and all you have to do is give your name and address, and leave this simple message: “Please support H.202, and oppose any attempts to weaken it.”