Although Governor Peter Shumlin's plan to restructure Vermont's health
care system this year doesn't commit the state to adopt a single payer
system, the Governor says it does provide the foundation needed to
implement a publicly financed, single payer approach in several years.

On Thursday's installment of the Vermont Edition "Vital Signs" series, we
heard the pros and cons of going the single payer route.

Mark Larson is the chairman of the House Health Care committee and a
strong single payer advocate. He says shifting to this system will save
the state as much as a half a billion dollars a year and he argues this
money could used to provide coverage to almost 50,000 uninsured Vermonters
and expand coverage to 160,000 under insured people in the state.

But Franklin senator Randy Brock doubts the accuracy of these savings and
says government often overestimates the savings associated with new
programs and underestimates the true costs of these changes.

Brock wants the state to adopt measures to make the private health
insurance market more competitive. He argues that consumers will make key
health care decisions based on transparent costs.

But Larson says most of Vermont's health care dollars are spent in
situations where consumers don't have the time to research costs and
instead are seeking the best and most timely care that's available.

The full Senate is scheduled to debate the Governor's plan next week. The
full blown debate over single payer isn't expected to take place until the
2013 session.