Whether we are faced with new healthcare threats like the coronavirus, or consistent issues like increasing costs and uninsured and underinsured Vermonters, we must come together and find solutions that are affordable and accessible. A universal healthcare system would help address many of these acute and chronic issues. But until we get there, we must keep working to address the many shortfalls of the current system.

Coronavirus

For information on COVID-19 in Vermont, please visit the Vermont Department of Health page dedicated to this worldwide pandemic. It is critical that our state government takes steps to get in front of this challenge.  Studies have shown that proactive action saves lives. 

Beyond our immediate response, it is more important than ever to acknowledge the invaluable contribution that our healthcare workers provide to our society. We must support them, their families, their unions, and their work in this critical time. We must come together to support each other, while taking care to confine our circles of contact to as few people as is practical.

If and when a vaccine is available for the coronavirus, it should be free for all Vermonters, universally accessible, and mandatory if medical professionals recommend that it be made so. If quantities are limited, however, we should prioritize making it accessible for the highest-risk populations like those over 60 years old and those with underlying health conditions. In the meantime, we should all follow guidelines from the World Health Organization and other national and international organizations.

Universal Healthcare For All

Healthcare is a human right. Every Vermonter should have access to healthcare when they need it. Healthcare should not be tied to employment. No one should die or be forced into financial hardship or bankruptcy as a result of a health condition. 

We must address the persistent healthcare issues in Vermont. While a national single-payer healthcare system (Medicare For All) is the ideal way to cover all Americans, keep healthcare costs in check, and ensure access to preventative healthcare without premiums and copayments, there are also steps that we can take here in Vermont. 

• State programs like Dr. Dynasaur should be supported and expanded when necessary. 

• We must ensure Medicare and Medicaid remain fully funded. 

• The Veterans Medical Center in White River Junction is a critical center for our Vermont Veterans. We will look to their leadership and success in covering a broad range of issues from mental health to substance abuse disorders to different cancers.

• We must encourage and work closely with our Federal Delegation to ensure continued funding for Federally Qualified Health Centers and look for opportunities to expand the services that are provided through them.

• We will do all in our power to protect funding for Planned Parenthood to ensure they can continue to provide general health services to the thousands of Vermont women and men who rely on them.

• Prescription drug prices must be kept in check.  Pharmaceutical companies should not be able to price gouge on other lifesaving drugs for chronic conditions.

• Our state government should work with progressive businesses that are funding free walk-in community health clinics and wellness programs for their employees in order to reduce costs and increase productivity. We can learn from them, and our government must recognize, as these businesses do, that good healthcare means good business. 

• We need far greater transparency across many sectors of our healthcare system, from the cost of care and procedures being more accessible for patients to the compensation for top hospital executives. We need to bend the cost curve if we are going to get healthcare costs under control.

Paid Family Leave

A universal, statewide paid family leave program would dramatically help countless Vermont families. It would help mitigate future health crises by allowing Vermonters to take the time needed when they or family members are sick and would help prevent the spread of illnesses. A Paid Family Leave program would also boost our economy by supporting our existing workforce and attracting more people to Vermont to live, work and raise their families. If we had this in Vermont before the Covid-19 outbreak, the economic hardship and impossible choices facing hardworking Vermonters could have been mitigated. Paid family leave would have slowed the spread of this life-threatening illness throughout our state.

Substance Abuse Disorder

The opioid epidemic in Vermont is harming our communities and our economy. We must treat all Vermonters with the dignity and respect they deserve. Harm-reduction services, from needle exchanges to access to overdose prevention medication, are crucial. We must make life-saving medication-assisted treatments such as methadone and buprenorphine free to any Vermonter who needs them. 

Medication-assisted treatment should not be criminalized. We must focus on addressing trauma, abuse, poverty, hopelessness, and a lack of alternatives for vulnerable Vermonters. These conditions can both cause and worsen substance use disorder. We also must hold the pharmaceutical companies accountable for their advertising and promotion of highly addictive and over-prescribed opioid drugs.

Mental Health

Our mental health challenges are staggering.  They also seem to be compounding as time goes on.  We must stop seeing “mental health” as a separate category from physical health.  The mind is part of the body. Just as we view environmental conditions as having an impact on our physical health, we must look at some of the environmental conditions that are also impacting the mental health of many Vermonters. The stress of economic uncertainty is straining many families. Homelessness from economic strain is also compounding mental health issues. We must work to address these areas that are making the mental health crisis worse.

We also must work to help people get back on their feet. We must give our state and designated agency employees the tools they need to more completely address the issues facing our community.

Health and healthcare in Vermont are critical for our families, our communities, and our economy.