"Vermont Poised to Become 1st State to Enact Single-Payer Healthcare" (video)

Democracy Now! video (17:27):

Today Vermont is set to make history by becoming the first state in the nation to offer universal, single-payer healthcare when Gov. Peter Shumlin signs its healthcare reform bill into law. The Vermont plan, called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, will attempt to stem rising medical care prices and provide universal coverage. We speak with Dr. Deb Richter, president of Vermont Health Care for All. She moved from Buffalo, New York, to Vermont in 1999 to advocate for a universal, single-payer healthcare system in the state. Gov. Shumlin calls her the “backbone” of the grassroots effort that helped persuade the Democratic-led state legislature to pass the bill this spring. [includes rush transcript]

"Bernie Sanders Presses For Vote On State Single-Payer Option"

Jeff Muskus (HuffPo):

While Democratic leaders abandoned the public option on Thursday, one senator reignited his push for an amendment that would allow states to test-pilot single-payer health insurance systems.

No matter what federal health care reform finally looks like, the Senate should give interested state governments the right to prove single-payer critics wrong, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said during a floor speech Thursday.

"I think we have got to give states the option, the flexibility to go forward with a single-payer system if that is what they want to do," Sanders said. "Once they've done it and done it well, other states around the country will say, 'We want the same thing. It's the cost-effective way to provide comprehensive health care to all of our people.'"

Sanders said his state single-payer amendment "could pass and could have the Republicans' support." Given the death of even a weak public option from which states could opt out, he shouldn't bet on it. Sanders acknowledged he won't get much support for the federal single-payer amendment he penned with Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and Roland Burris (Ill.), but he wants the chance to fight for it just the same.

"One of my concerns as we hurdle down to the finish line here, I don't know who will be able to offer amendments," Sanders said. "I offered the amendment, I want the right to have that debate. I don't need 20 hours, I don't need five days. I would love to discuss with my Republican friends that issue, Democrats, that's an amendment that has a right to be offered and should be offered."

States would still run the government insurance system even in Sanders' federal single-payer model, but the feds would cover the costs with additional payroll and income taxes. Though he said the current bill marks progress, Sanders said the needed debate and changes are far from over, and one change tops his list.

"I do not think we are at the two-yard line. I think a lot of work has to be done to improve this bill," he said. "I think at the end of the day, the only way you're going to provide comprehensive universal health care to all is with a Medicare single-payer system, which ends hundreds of billions of bureaucracy and waste engendered by the private insurance companies."

"You have fifteen seats at the table and not one for single-payer?" (video)

C-SPAN, video (06:26).

Howie P.S.: Not withstanding the Senator's remarks, why is it that there was not one advocate of single payer at the hearing? Am I wrong in thinking this could be the basis for a SNL opening skit?

"Dr. Quentin Young, Longtime Obama Confidante and Physician to MLK, Criticizes Admin’s Rejection of Single-Payer Healthcare" (with audio and video)

Democracy Now!, with audio and video:

While the Obama administration claims “all options are on the table” for healthcare reform, it’s already rejected the solution favored by most Americans, including doctors: single-payer universal healthcare. We speak with Dr. Quentin Young, perhaps the most well-known single-payer advocate in America. He was the Rev. Martin Luther King’s doctor when he lived in Chicago and a longtime friend and ally of Barack Obama. But he was noticeably not invited to Obama’s White House healthcare summit last week. [includes rush transcript]

Barack Obama