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Killington, Vt. . October 17, 2005 -- A daylong health care summit attended by nearly 200 leading stakeholders in the health care reform discussion succeeded in Governor Jim Douglas' goal of moving the health care debate away from areas of divergence and toward those areas of substantial agreement and common ground.
Governor Douglas said he was pleased with the results and the consensus that developed around key cost-containment issues.
"We came together to form a partnership and an alliance of ideas fashioned around our common commitment to making health care affordable for every Vermonter. I'm very pleased that we succeeded in identifying many of those reforms that we agree are necessary to reduce the rising cost of health care," the Governor said. "I want to thank all of the Vermonters who participated in this summit. I especially want to thank the many legislative leaders who were engaged in the process. Their participation sends another important signal to the people of Vermont that we can do better, that we want to do better, and that we are indeed prepared to again put progress ahead of partisanship".
Areas of general agreement included a continued commitment to reforms like Douglas' Chronic Care Initiative that will fundamentally transform the health care delivery system to better treat patients with chronic conditions like cardiovascular disease and diabetes, which account for nearly 80 percent of all health care spending.
