Gubernatorial Candidates Need to Debate Healthcare

Jim Douglas, who supports additional insurance company competition in Vermont, might explain how that’s going to deliver health care to more Vermonters and bring about savings in overall costs that are anywhere near as large as those provided by the Lewin universal health care system.

Also, he might explain why the government financed health care systems of every other industrial country in the world, none of which uses the competitive insurance company approach favored by Douglas, all have administrative costs averaging half those of our own.

Doug Racine, who does support universal health care for all Vermonters, might explain specifically how his version would compare to the Lewin alternative and how he’d transition us from today’s competitive insurance company approach to a universal health care system.

Otherwise, Racine might end up with the same results as Governor Dean, who’s now running for President as a supporter of universal health care. As governor, Dean did expand health care to certain additional categories of Vermonters, but never began the process of debating alternatives to move us from our present competitive insurance company approach to the universal health care system he supports.

Con Hogan, who identifies $450 million dollars of present health care administrative overhead he’d attack, might explain how he’d get savings anywhere near as large as savings to be achieved under the Lewin alternative where all monies are collected and disbursed by a single entity, thus allowing for planning within the overall system plus use of an overall budget to hold down costs.

A broad and comprehensive debate and discussion of alternatives is too important to all Vermonters to be left “off the table” by the leading gubernatorial candidates. We all stand to benefit if this debate begins.

This is Rick Hubbard from South Burlington, Vermont.