Vermont is the first state in the nation to move toward a health care delivery system in which health care is a right and not a privilege, costs are contained, and insurance coverage is divorced from employment – allowing small businesses to create more jobs and opportunities for their employees.  Like all Americans, Vermonters are facing skyrocketing health care costs that are unsustainable for taxpayers and businesses. Vermont’s single payer system will reward providers for positive outcomes, eliminate the overwhelming paperwork and red tape of insurance, and contain costs that are out of control.

As we move toward this new outcomes-based system, we will maintain what we are doing well. Vermont leads the nation for providing children’s health, seeing significant decreases in children without insurance, child and teen deaths and teens who abuse drugs or alcohol, for example. We rank third for overall child well-being, with a reduction in the number of children in single-parent households and teen births, as well as improvements in reading proficiency and high school students graduating on time.