December of 2014 marked the end of the campaign for single payer health care in Vermont. Governor Peter Shumlin had been onboard with the effort during his tenure in office and he worked hard to support efforts to move in that direction. But in the end, when he had to look at the real cost of the plan, he declared that single payer in Vermont was dead because the cost would have been too much for small businesses.

We now have a new effort in the form of H. 156, a bill that would, “… implement Green Mountain Care, a publicly financed health care program for all Vermont residents, over time, starting with primary care in the first year, adding preventive dental and vision care in the second year, and incorporating additional health care services in later years. It would establish the Universal Health Care Advisory Group at the Green Mountain Care Board to provide recommendations to the General Assembly regarding the sequencing of and financing for the health care services to be added in the third through tenth years of Green Mountain Care’s implementation. The bill would also express legislative intent regarding funding sources for Green Mountain Care and would prohibit health insurance plans and rates from reflecting duplication of the coverage provided by Green Mountain Care.”