What Does America Have To Learn From Vermont?

Vermonters have a lot to be very proud of; their state government serves as a kind of beacon of hope in the savage darkness that is Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Florida... even nearby Maine. The other day Ezra Klein explained in the Washington Post how the state is closing in on single player and the state's most ardent advocate of working families, Bernie Sanders, took to the page of the Guardian to explain why single payer is the only way to go. Bernie shatters some truisms that the Medical Industrial Complex and their conservative political shills keep pounding into the heads of the public through a weak, complacent-- if not complicit-- media.

The United States is the only major nation in the industrialised world that does not guarantee healthcare as a right to its people. Meanwhile, we spend about twice as much per capita on healthcare and, in a wide number of instances, our outcomes are not as good as others that spend far less.

It is time that we bring about a fundamental transformation of the American healthcare system. It is time for us to end private, for-profit participation in delivering basic coverage. It is time for the United States to provide a Medicare-for-all, single payer health coverage programme.

Under our dysfunctional system, 45,000 Americans a year die because they delay seeking care they cannot afford. We spent 17.6% of our GDP on healthcare in 2009, which is projected to go up to 20% by 2020, yet we still rank 26th among major, developed nations on life expectancy, and 31st on infant mortality. We must demand a better model of health coverage that emphasises preventive and primary care for every single person without regard for their ability to pay.

It is certainly a step forward that the new health reform law is projected to cover 32 million additional Americans, out of the more than 50 million uninsured today. Yet projections suggest that roughly 23 million will still be without insurance in 2019, while healthcare costs will continue to skyrocket.

Twenty-three million Americans still without health insurance after health reform is implemented? This is unacceptable. And that is why, this week, Representative Jim McDermott and I are announcing the re-introduction of the American Health Security Act, recognising healthcare as a human right and providing every US citizen and permanent resident with healthcare coverage and services through a state-administered, single payer programme.

Let's face it: until we put patients over profits, our system will not work for ordinary Americans.
It is incomprehensible that drug companies still get away with charging Americans twice as much, or more, than citizens of Canada or Europe for the exact same drugs manufactured by the exact same companies. It is an outrage that insurers still often hike premiums 20%, 40% and 60% a year on individual policy holders; and some insurers still spend 40 cents of every premium dollar on administration and profits while lavishing multimillion-dollar payouts on their CEOs.

It boggles the mind that approximately 30% of every healthcare dollar spent in the United States goes to administrative costs, rather than to delivering care. We must do better. Taiwan, for example, spends only a little over 6% of GDP on healthcare, while achieving better health outcomes on some key indicators than we do; yet they spend a relative pittance on administrative costs.

I am very proud that my home state of Vermont is now taking big steps to lead the nation in healthcare by moving forward on a plan to establish a single payer healthcare system that puts the interests of patients over chasing profits. The American Health Security Act would make sure every state does the same-- taking profits out of the equation by implementing a single payer system, but letting each state administer its own programme, according to strict standards, in a way best suited to its needs.

The goal of real healthcare reform must be high-quality, universal coverage in a cost-effective way. We must ensure, to as great a degree as possible, that the money we put into health coverage goes to the delivery of healthcare, not to paper-pushing, astronomical profits and lining CEOs' pockets.

Don't you wish you had a senator like Bernie representing your state? And, believe me, just because someone has a "D" next to their name, it doesn't mean their enlightened or courageous or even on the side of working families. Just look at how Claire McCaskill and Mark Udall are working with Republicans to penalize working families on behalf of their wealthy patrons. And they're not even as bad as some of the corporate shills the DSCC is trying to foist on the American people in 2012-- like arch-conservatives Ed Case in Hawaii, Joe Donnelly in Indiana and Jim Matheson in Utah, to name three of the worst.

When Blue America launched our Bernie Sanders page the day after the 2010 midterms, we hoped he would run for president. But we doubted he would and we were happy to be contributing money to his Senate reelection campaign. His is the single most crucial voice in that body... by far. Tuesday he-- along with Seattle Congressman Jim McDermott in the House-- introduced single-payer, Medicare-for-all legislation, the antidote to the backward-looking Paul Ryan/John Boehner approach based on a vision that government is there to help make society a better and safer place for everyone, not just a tool to protect economic predators and social parasites. Sander's and McDermott's bill, the American Health Security Act of 2011, would provide federal guidelines and strong minimum standards for states to administer single-payer health care programs. It will take the election of a progressive Congress to pass it, not just replacing corporate Republicans with corporate Democrats, but, for example, making sure we replace reactionary Blue Dogs and Democratic corporate shills like Dan Lipinski in Illinois with healthcare advocates like John Atkinson. All of the candidates endorsed by Blue America support the Medicare-for-all vision being pushed by Bernie and the Congressional Progressive Caucus. That's why you're not going to see us asking for contributions for endangered middle-of-the-road Democrats like Claire McCaskill, let alone anti-healthcare Trojan horses like Joe Donnelly.