OK, health care is interesting. I actually... let's go to that story. Vermont now is really
moving forward on this single-payer health care story. We talked about it about a month
ago, Vermont proposing a single-payer health care system. The Senate gave final approval.
Certain amendments were put in place to make the bill more palatable for businesses, then
the House of Representatives also had passed it. So now it goes to a conference committee,
it will be reconciled, it will then go to the desk of Governor Peter Shumlin, who strongly
supports the bill.
Number one, doctors have already said they would move to Vermont to practice under a
single-payer state-run health care system. Will people move to Vermont as well as a result
of this, if it passes? I believe they will.
Louis: Well, people who can afford to, yeah.
David: No, no, that's not... maybe some people can't-- can't afford not to. In other words,
they live near Vermont, and by moving to Vermont, they can get into this single-payer system.
Louis: Well, there's a lot of factors in moving. You've got your job, your family, property
that you might own, whatever. It's not that simple.
David: No, I understand. I believe that this actually will bring people into Vermont if
it happens. The question is what kind of a system will there be? Will it be a system
like France where you have, everybody gets free basic, public insurance, and many, many
people are supplementing it with private coverage, additional private coverage? The important
thing is that Vermont is looking to kind of disconnect employment and health insurance,
which is really one of the most important things that... one of the most important aspects
of this type of legislation.
There's a couple of obstacles still here, though, and they are not insignificant, but
legal experts are telling me that it should not hold up the bill, at least not indefinitely.
Number one is that Vermont needs to get a federal waiver allowing it to opt out of the
Affordable Care Act. This is where, under current law, they wouldn't be able to opt
out until 2017. There is a bill to let them opt out by 2014. The other issue is they have
to circumvent the ERISA laws, which prohibit states from enacting legislation related to
employee benefit plans. And we can expect several lawsuits, Louis, from insurers suing
the state, but Vermont for Single Payer believes it's not actually going to hold up the situation.
What would the plan be? How would this work? The single-payer plan would be, number one,
it would provide publicly financed government-funded health coverage for everyone. It would be
funded by broad-base taxes. It would put no health insurance mandates on employers, and
the employers would be completely free from state government-imposed insurance obligations.
All they have to do is pay taxes, the-- their business taxes.
Insurers, ladies and gentlemen, are going to do everything they can to prevent this
from happening. Now, bear in mind, the population of Vermont is only 625,000, so this is not
because of specific profit in Vermont, it's because of the door that this would open up.
And you have to know insurers are going to go as far as they possibly can to prevent
this from becoming law.
Louis: Of course, yeah.
David: The question is will it work? And again, I talked to a couple of legal experts today,
and they said that whether or not it will happen will depend on a number of factors,
but the two legal obstacles I mentioned they don't believe are going to hold this up.
Louis: I wonder what's going to happen to people who are employed by a company in Vermont
but live in another state, like our friend who works for Vermont Yankee. He lives...
he's a resident of Massachusetts, but he is employed by a Vermont company.
David: Right. That's interesting. I'm not actually sure what would happen in that case.
In other words, you work in Vermont, you live in Massachusetts...
Louis: Your health care is provided by your company.
David: Your company provides the health care, and the... where are you getting your medical
care I think is a question, too.
Louis: Right.
David: This does bring up a lot of questions. Like for example, if you live in Vermont but
you are traveling elsewhere, is this the type of thing that is determining where... where
is the care being paid from? In other words, Vermont will pay for the care even if you
are physically outside of Vermont, or is this the other way around? I think that this...
the single-payer goes with the individual who is insured, rather than their personal
location. That's my sense. So even if you're traveling, you would still be covered.
Louis: Yeah.
David: But I don't know the answer to that.
Louis: Guess we'll find out.
David: We certainly will. Make sure that you like The David Pakman Show on Facebook, www.Facebook.com/DavidPakmanShow.
Let's take a break. Coming up next, I'll talk to Stacey Campfield, Tennessee State Senator,
who is proposing this infamous don't say gay bill. Lot of questions to ask him, Louis.
Hopefully we'll ask most of them after the break.
Announcer: The David Pakman Show at www.DavidPakman.com.
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