As Supreme Court prepares to rule on the Affordable Healthcare Act, Vermont leads the way

Vermont Can Lead the Way to universal healthcare for all

by James Haslam, Director, Vermont Worker Center

This week there will be a lot of attention paid to the Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act. But the people of Vermont need your solidarity. Vermont is establishing a universal health care system that provides healthcare as a public good for all, financed through equitable, tax-based contributions. This pioneering effort was the result of a people’s movement convened by the Vermont Workers’ Center called Healthcare is a Human Right.

Over the past four years, the Healthcare Is a Human Right campaign and our growing grassroots people’s movement has led to Vermont becoming the first state to pass universal healthcare legislation. Act 48 declares that healthcare is a public good and should be grounded in human rights principles. Watch "The Vermont Breakthrough" to learn more about how we won.

The importance of this victory cannot be understated. If Vermont can actually implement universal healthcare, they can lead the way for states across the country to do the same. As you are reading this letter, people in Maryland, California, Oregon, New York, and Maine are working together on using strategies from the Healthcare is a Human Right campaign in their states. It is already happening. 

What we need now is your support to make sure universal healthcare actually becomes a reality in Vermont!

As we head down the road to implementation of this new system the next year will be critical. Giant healthcare profiteers and other big monied corporate interests have begun an all out fight to derail the effort. “Astroturf” front groups such as Vermonters for Health Care Freedom and Campaign For Vermont have already begun to take their message of fear to the airwaves as they easily buy up Vermont’s small media market. They want to confuse and scare people in Vermont so they back away from actual implementation of this ground-breaking healthcare plan.

We will never be able to outspend these groups in an air war. But, we can out-organize them on the ground! We can overcome their messages of fear with the hope and promise of a transformed healthcare system, based on human rights. A healthcare system that ensures that everyone will have the healthcare they need when they need it. All of us have the same right to healthcare. And we are fighting for that right.

As national insurance companies and lobby groups target Vermont, we need national support!

Our victories in Vermont can be a catalyst for change in the time of the 99% movement and help pave a path in this country away from profiteering and inequity and towards human rights and healthy communities. With your help we will win universal healthcare. And, we will keep winning bold action beyond that to eliminate poverty, reverse the climate crisis and make democracy a reality for everyone.

We want to show massive support from people all over the country.  A growing number of public figures, including Cornel West, Noam Chomsky and Paul Farmer, have declared their support for the effort in Vermont and are beginning to spread the word about how Vermont Can Lead the Way. Your endorsement is critical in this effort.

Endorse the Healthcare is a Human Right campaign by clicking here. 

We will publish the endorsers list on the Vermont Workers’ Center website and present it to Vermont legislators. Thank you so much!  Your endorsement is an action of public support for Vermont, and for healthcare for all!

In Solidarity,

James Haslam
Director/Lead Organizer
Vermont Workers' Center

www.vermontcanleadtheway.org