Shumlin blames single-payer failure on timing, costs, Republicans, himself

Former Gov. Peter Shumlin said Tuesday that Congress should move forward with a Medicare-for-all health care plan at the national level but that states should not try to implement a similar plan on their own.

Shumlin, who served from 2011 to 2017, made the comments at a special event with Harvard’s School of Public Health. Shumlin ran for governor in 2010 promising single-payer health care and abandoned the plan in December 2014, after nearly losing his bid for a third term.

Shumlin, a Democrat, said he still believes in single-payer health care — a system in which the government pays for health care bills instead of private insurance companies — and that Vermont’s experience should be viewed as a lesson instead of a failure.

He said the federal government should gradually increase eligibility for the federal Medicare program, which covers seniors over age 65 and people with disabilities, until everyone in the United States has Medicare coverage. He supports the recent “Medicare-for-all” plan put forth by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

Read more: https://vtdigger.org/2017/09/20/shumlin-blames-single-payer-failure-timing-costs-republicans/#.WcLFNsZrzRY