Vermont Passes Single Payer Health Care

The Vermont Senate passed a single payer health care bill following its approval by the House (via Think Progress).

So now the bill will enter a conference committee to reconcile the differences between the Senate proposal and the version that passed through the House. Then it will be sent to Gov. Peter Shumlin, D-Vermont, for signing.

The bill won’t actually mean much for Vermonters at first. One main aspect of the bill is creation of a health care exchange. That’s actually required under federal health care reform. It means setting up a marketplace for individuals and companies to shop for insurance coverage. That doesn’t take effect until 2014, so we won’t know for awhile what that will look like.

Democratic Governor Peter Shumlin is likely to sign it, leading to a wonderful look at whether such a system could possibly work on a national scale.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.