[orison]

Vermont Digger: http://vtdigger.org/2011/04/27/vt-se...-in-21-9-vote/

In a historic vote on Tuesday, the Vermont Legislature created the enabling legislation for a first-in-the-nation universal health care system. The state Senate approved the visionary plan for a single-payer system in a 21-9 vote after four hours of debate. The split was largely along party lines.

Gov. Peter Shumlin, a Democrat, campaigned on a promise to create a single-payer system in Vermont that would contain health care costs and give all of the state’s residents universal access to medical care. On Tuesday, Shumlin made good on the first step toward fulfilling that promise, and just five hours after the Senate vote, he marked the legislative victory in an appearance on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show.”

The Shumlin administration was heavily involved in drafting the bill, H.202, though by the time the legislation reached final passage it had changed somewhat from its original incarnation, which was based in part on recommendations from Professor William Hsiao, the renowned Harvard economist who created a single payer system for Taiwan.

[michael247]

Kudos to Gov. Shumlin. He took Pres. Obama's challenge and has actually done exactly what I'm assuming the President wanted him to do. This is how we get to universal, single-payer coverage in this country. A lot of people thought Pres. Obama was making some kind of concession when he told the states to create their own systems; I thought it was a brilliant move. If you can't get in the front door, use the back door.