Welcome to VPR’s Vital Signs blog. As our Vermont Edition series gets underway next week, we’ll be highlighting some of the voices we’re hearing and pointing you to resources that might help you untangle the complexities around health care access and costs.

When we planned the series, our aim was to go step by step through Vermont’s effort to retool health care and present a clearer idea of where we are, where health professionals, policy makers and Vermonters feel we should go and how we get there.

There are a number of ideas we feel it’s important to examine.

First, how does Vermont’s approach – moving toward a public/private single-payer system – compare to what other states are working on? That’s where we begin on Monday when we talk two national experts who are comparing the approaches taken in several states.

Our second goal is to look at how health care in Vermont might be transformed in the short term. We’ll take apart the legislation that Statehouse Democrats and the governor are shepherding through the Legislature. It’s got a lot of people hopeful and a lot of people nervous.

We’re also going to devote a full day to what can be done to better control health care costs. Everyone agrees that no overhaul will work for long unless policymakers and the health care industry get a handle on that.

There’s also single-payer, the governor’s eventual goal for Vermont. After years of debate, policymakers are still divided between whether a single-payer system would place Vermont on the cutting edge, or a precipice. We’ll hear both sides.

Your experience and perspective are an important part of this series. We’ve been haring from Vermonter about what key problem you think health care overhaul needs to solve. Add your comments and questions to the conversation: call 1-800-258-1619 to record a message, or email vermontedition@vpr.net.