OK, this isn't precisely ACA-related, but come on...
Shumlin: "The time is not right"
Vermont has long had a two-pronged approach to building a single-payer health care system. First, they would figure out what they would want the system to look like. Then, they would figure out how to pay for it.
The state passed legislation outlining how the single-payer system would work in 2011. And ever since, the state has been trying to figure out how to pay for a system that covers everybody. Most estimates suggest that the single payer system would cost $2 billion each year. For a state that only collects $2.7 billion in revenue, that is a large sum of money.
What Shumlin appears to be saying today is that the "time is not right" to move forward on the financing of the single-payer system. And that means putting the whole effort aside, with no clear moment when the debate would be reopened.
Ouch.
Thanks to Morgan True for the link to this PowerPoint report which explains why VT is pulling the plug on their ambitious Single Payer attempt.
In brighter news, I now have 3.39 million CONFIRMED QHP selections to date (estimated total: 7.6 million nationally), plus at least 756,000 additional Medicaid enrollees added since 11/15:
UPDATE: OK, according to a Vermont resident from a different thread:
So, that's a hyperbolic headline. Single-payer is not 'Off the table,' and no one here is saying that. You're intentionally using terminology from the healthcare fights of 2009-2010, when in congress the Dems indeed said this phrase and it angered many of us. That's not what happening here. The governor says we need to go back to the drawing board about financing. His announcement was a surprise even to those in House leadership, so I don't think its the last word on this - even if those were the words anyone here used.
Can you not blow this out of proportion just right this second? It's not helpful.
This tiny state is trying out some pretty big things that no other state has quote yet. We talk things out here, and when things get difficult, we dig in. No need to blow things up. Chill for a minute.
Fair enough. I'm a SP advocate myself, so I've modified the title a bit accordingly.