Vermont Workers' Center Fighting for Workers' Rights!

Robin Lunge, from Leg Council handed out Draft 1.5-S.88 which may be up on the web page below by tomorrow. Draft 1.4-S88 is there now.
http://www.leg.state.vt.us./misc/issues.htm

Sen. Lyons did ask Robin to include language re: participation in the principles. Robin said that she could do that

Long day in the committee room. Senator Kevin Mullin, R-Rutland, read a letter that I believe came from a constituent of his. This person was writing about how ridiculous it is to keep jumping back-and-forth from Catamount and Vhap, each time his income rose or fell. The constituent complained how each time that this happened, he had to get new insurance cards, and was paying different premiums, deductibles, and co-pays with each one. The Rutland constituent was furious that some things covered under one program, were not under another; that he had to come up to reviews every six months.

There is now a new version, Draft No.1.4 - S. 88 that was presented today and there will be another one tomorrow. Robin Lunge, the leg. council staff person said that it will be posted under ISSUES http://www.leg.state.vt.us/misc/issues.htm. I just checked and it was not up yet.

In draft No.1-4. Sec. 2 (5) the language has been changed to read "For health care to be a human right, the government must ensure that the health care system satisfies the principles in this section." There is no language re: participation in this section...

We now have a bill in the Vermont legislature that explicitly recognizes healthcare as a human right. The Senate Health and Welfare Committee today released this 'strike-all" version of S.88 (meaning that the entiretly of the text in S.88 as introduced has been striken and replaced by what appears below). As legislative council and Chair Doug Racine explained, this bill authorizes a commission to design 3 single-payer health care systems for the Vermont legislature to use in building a new health care system next legislative session.

Just as Town Meeting Week is wrapping up, we got word that the Senate Health Committee may bring forward the bill which currently stands the best chance to make healthcare a public good next Tuesday. Politicians will only lead as far as we push them, though, so to make sure that they do this, we need to continue to add to the thousands of voices who have demanded that we make real change happen.

Please tell everyone you know to go to www.workerscenter.org/takeaction and send an email to the Senate Health and Welfare Committee ASAP.

Con Hogan testimony was a response to the draft outlines re: Health Care Reform bill and Global Budgets presented by Jim Hester,the Exec. Director of the Health Care Reform Committee.

Con began by saying he has been struggling for a week trying to grasp the ideas in the outline. Called them just a list and . He offered that what the committee needs is a set of design options that they can lay out side by side on the table and compare.

Summary of House Health and Welfare Committee Hearings, Wednesday, February 17th:

It took some time to get the quorum together. Senators Racine, Kittel, Lyons, and Flanagan were there. Senators Matt Choates (D-Caledonia) and Kevin Mullen (R-Republican) were absent. Choates, a nurse, was working Pages constantly came in and out as the proceedings went on, bringing gift boxes and letters to the legislators. Walter Carpenter and Jerry Kilcourse, from the Worker's Center were there. Kate Kanelstein and other people from the center came in, but left shortly afterward. Jerry and Walter stayed the entire meeting, as did Dr. Deb Richter.

I testified on behalf of the campaign today based on the following testimony prepared by the policy committee.

Vermont Workers' Center's Healthcare is a Human Right Campaign
Senate Health & Welfare Committee Testimony February 18, 2010

I want to start by thanking this committee for taking seriously the need for significant and radical health care reform. We applaud your efforts and remain willing to help you in any way we can. And thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.

On February 16, the Senate Health & Welfare Committee presented the following outline of proposed or potential pieces of a reform bill this year. Notably, when someone asked about universal coverage, noting the outline seems not to address this major point, the committee replied that the issue of universal coverage was being dealt with in the House Healthcare Committee. Its not clear how meaningful reform will be made without uniting these issues.