UPDATE April 24, 2018: The House Health Care Committee will be voting up or down on S.53 on Wednesday, April 25th at 10:30am. Contact the committee members today to tell them you support Universal Access to Primary Care!
S.53 Universal Access to Primary Care is now stalled in House Health Care Committee. Hopefully we can break the grip the medical industrial complex has over Vermont's health care delivery. If you support the concept of all Vermonters having access to primary care without financial barriers please contact the members of House Health by phone or email now!
Direct your comments to the Chair or Vice Chair unless your representative is in the committee.
Rep. William J. Lippert Jr., Chair - wlippert@leg.state.vt.us • (802) 482-3528
Rep. Anne B. Donahue, Vice Chair - adonahue@leg.state.vt.us • (802) 249-4071
Rep. Timothy Briglin, Ranking Member (Windsor-Orange-2) - tbriglin@leg.state.vt.us • (802) 785-2414
Rep. Annmarie Christensen (Windsor-2) - AChristensen@leg.state.vt.us • (802) 263-9530
Rep. Brian Cina (Chittenden 6-4) - BCina@leg.state.vt.us • (802) 448-2178
Rep. Sarah Copeland-Hanzas (Orange-2) - scopelandhanzas@leg.state.vt.us • (802) 222-3536
Rep. Elizabeth "Betsy" Dunn (Chittenden 8-1) - BDunn@leg.state.vt.us • (802) 238-4271
Rep. Douglas Gage (Rutland 5-4) - dgage@leg.state.vt.us • (802) 773-0616
Rep. Michael Hebert (Windham-1) - mhebert@leg.state.vt.us • (802) 451-9088
Rep. Lori Houghton, Clerk (Chittenden 8-2) - LHoughton@leg.state.vt.us • (802) 373-0599
Rep. Benjamin Jickling (Orange-Washington-Addison) - BJickling@leg.state.vt.us • (802) 595-5285
Our insurance product health care delivery system is seriously broken. We do not have enough doctors and they are buried in paperwork. Pediatrician Jack Mayer of Middlebury said, "At a recent town meeting in Middlebury I held up a 40 foot long computer printout of all the insurance companies my office billed over the years in my practice. More than 200. These insurance companies provided NO care for my patients." We need to break the chain insurance companies have created around health care. One only need to look at reduced access health care for school employees and state workers mandated by the Scott Administration to understand even Vermonters with some of the best insurance coverage are being priced out of health care.
S.53 Universal Access to Primary Care development of an operational plan comes with an estimated cost of $590,000 and $770,000 over two years. One can't implement any initiative without developing an operational plan, typically medical professionals conservatively charge between 20 and 25% of the project cost. The estimated cost of Universal Access to Primary Care is $200 million. By doing this in advance, planning time is reduced to a mere review and discussion by the implementation team. An incredible savings for taxpayers.
Please contact the members of the House Health Care Committee TODAY and let them know you support all Vermonters having access to primary care without financial barriers!