Vermont, Redux
This is David Gratzer, writing in The Wall Street Journal about Vermont’s new health reform:
The last time Vermont’s health system gained national attention was in 2004, when Howard Dean, then governor of the state, ran for president. As governor, Mr. Dean expanded public insurance eligibility, struggling to get as close to single-payer health care as he legally could. New regulations pushed out private insurers, reducing competition. Vermont imposed a guaranteed-issue mandate, which requires insurers to sell to any applicant, and forced insurers to use community rating, which requires them to offer the same price to everyone, regardless of age and health. Both measures also appeared in the final ObamaCare law.
The result? The number of uninsured Vermonters barely budged. But costs sure moved—in the wrong direction.
Maybe we should stop calling it “Single-Payer” and start calling it “Oligopoly-Payer.” Proponents could achieve the same result by merely allowing all the payers to coordinate reimbursement levels with Medicare / Medicaid.
I have a hard time feeling sorry for Vermont.
There must be something in the water up there in Vermont.