Health care reform made it through Congress and was signed by the President, and promptly disappeared from headlines aside from occasional Republican attempts or vows to repeal it. But the system is far from fixed, and hospital closings, budget cuts and understaffings contribute just as much to our nation's health care crisis.
What can we do about it? To discuss the ongoing crunch on the medical profession, the problem with funding and the falling tax base, we asked Arthur Cheliotes of the Communications Workers of America union and Dr. Greg Dodell of the Committee of Interns and Residents and a resident physician at St. Lukes-Roosevelt Hospital in New York.
Dear Laura Flanders,
Vermont did NOT pass a single payer initiative. We wish we had. But what was passed was an initiative to study three possible systems for Vermont, and one of the studies will be how a single payer initiative would work in Vermont. So, it is a small step forward, but NOT a single payer bill. Please check out the Vermont for Single Payer website to get more information on this (www.vermontforsinglepayer.org).
Best wishes,
Ellen Oxfeld
By Ellen Oxfeld on June 8th, 2010 at 12:27 am