On May 18, 2017

The time for single-payer is now

Dear Editor,

I have felt the impacts of the healthcare system’s many manifestations over my lifetime. My parents spent nearly two decades paying off medical bills from my younger brothers’ stints in the hospital with infant asthma. I was forced to put off graduate school for several years after breaking my collarbone and using my savings on the subsequent costs.

Now, my wife and I will be paying off a $5,600 tax bill for the foreseeable future after trying to navigate and utilize Vermont Health Connect.

The Affordable Care Act was inadequate, and the version being crafted now will certainly be worse. It is a cruel joke to call our system the best in the world, when the market-based, pay-to-play format benefits the wealthy and the insurance and pharmaceutical companies over regular people.

I am a proud member of the Vermont Workers Center and stand with all citizens who recognize that the time for a single payer system is now. The state legislature must fulfill the promise of Act 48.

Mike Leonard, South Burlington

Do you want to submit feedback to the editor?

Send Us An Email!

Related Posts

Closing schools doesn’t fix Vermont’s education affordibility problems

October 30, 2024
By Margaret MacLean Editor’s note: Margaret MacLean, of Peacham, is a retired Vermont teacher and award-winning principal. She is the founding executive director of the Vermont Rural Education Collaborative, a past employee of the Rural School and Community Trust, and served on the Vermont State Board of Education.  Roxbury parents can meet most of the…

Making Vermont a place working families want to call home

October 30, 2024
By Rebecca Holcombe Editor’s note: Rebecca Holcombe is a Vermont Representative from Windsor-Orange 2 who served as the Vermont Secretary of Education from 2014 to 2018. Vermonters suffer from unsustainable increases in the cost of everything from property taxes to healthcare. Too many people are working hard and stretching Social Security checks but still worry…

Don’t be fooled by false promises

October 30, 2024
Dear Editor,  There is no simple solution to the challenges that Vermonters face. There needs to be a delicate balance between what, on the surface, seems like appealing short-term solutions to the cost of living for all Vermonters versus the vision for long-term planning that creates financial stability and growth into the future.  Do not…

Context matters

October 30, 2024
Dear Editor, In an October 23 letter to the Mountain Times, Steve Berry wrote, “John Kerry stated at a World Economic Forum panel, ‘Our First Amendment stands as a major block (to getting things done).’”  You may wonder why Mr. Berry uses such odd syntax, placing part of the quote in parentheses. Maybe it’s because…