The state would need to obtain a waiver from Obamacare, which may be a problem.
Under the current law, however, Vermont would have to wait until 2017 to get the waiver that would allow the state to set up its own system.
“It doesn’t make sense to have it be 2017 because by then the federal law has gone into effect,” Welch said. “You are setting up the exchanges and what you end up doing is having states that want to innovate — in our case single-payer — have to unwind what we put in place.”
Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Scott Brown (R-Mass.) have introduced legislation to move the opt-out date up to 2014 — an amendment that both Welch and, it appears, House Democratic leaders support.
There goes that darned Scott Brown, acting all populist again!
While I hate losing the mantle of the most progressive state in the Union, I’m mostly thrilled that someone has the guts to get ‘er done.
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p>Hopefully we follow their lead!
NY, MA, RI, and NH all have substantial populations which live near-but-not-in their states, due mostly to the locations of NYC and Boston. Vermont, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have a large population living “just over the line.” This matters because of so-called free-riders. If a family member had or might soon get very expensive health care costs and I lived very near but not in Vermont, I might have a big incentive to move just into Vermont. This doesn’t seem to be a big risk for Vermont, which helps manage cost and risk.
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p>Does anyone think that this is a major consideration?
…like require one-year residency before taking advantage of the system. We could also just acknowledge that taxation doesn’t always directly relate to services. Living close to the NH line, for example, I drive on NH roads which I don’t pay for unless I happen to be on a toll road. There are others who don’t pay much if anything in taxes due to lack of income, but still get services.
We each use relatively close to the same amount of roads. Figure that lots of our “use” comes from the supply chain — UPS, delivery trucks to stores, police/fire/gov’t, etc. The distribution of use is pretty tight.
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p>Now, think of health care. There aren’t very many people who run up $50,000 or even $200,000 a year in health care costs, but there are enough to dent a budget. Given that lots of times these folks aren’t suffering from an accident but rather a long term condition, this is a significant issue.
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p>There are few things which would keep you living where you do if moving resulted in better health care for a diseased loved one. Work and family are two; got others? If you could move just a few 10s of miles, keep your same job, and your spouse/kid/you could get the health care you needed to survive and thrive that you simply can’t get now, you’d do it. So would anybody.
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p>So, I acknowledge that, in general, taxation and services kind of even out… but surely you admit that health care expenses are an extreme outlier in that calculation.
I don’t think it’s a large number, but I don’t know.
which is kind of my point. For most people, they’d have to change jobs, leave their nearby friends and family, etc.
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p>Not to mention that changing countries is a whole lot different than changing states. There’s that whole immigration thing, for starters.
let’s remember they have one of the most lax guns laws in the country. They do not require you to even get a permit to buy, own or carry a gun. They also allow you to carry a concealed weapon without a permit. INSANE!
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p>Vermont, since you are located adjacent to our state of MA sharing a common border, please put some laws in place to stop people from buying guns in VT and driving down to MA to sell them.
Apparently it must be my reading comprehension, but I don’t recall the post asserting that Vermont was Paradise on Earth and the Paragon of Good Government in Every Way. JohnD must just read more closely than I do. My hat’s off to you, JohnD.
That’s exactly what I meant when I was going on about healthcare and pasting in excerpts from articles about healthcare. I really meant to say how wonderful Vermont’s gun-control laws are, you betcha. Sorry I wasn’t making myself clear.
healthcare systems and gun laws? States with lax gun laws have better ideas on healthcare payment methods. See?
of additional qualities of Bernie Sander’s Vermont.
Just so happens the Lowell Sun had this article today about the consequences of being near the border of a less restrictive state.