On Thursday, February 21, legislators and Vermonters for Healthcare Freedom accused the Shumlin Administration of hiding details about the funding mechanisms for their single payer healthcare plan. Minority Leader Don Turner (R-Milton) and Jeff Wennberg of Vermonters for Healthcare Freedom pointed to evidence within over 1600 documents released by the Administration after a freedom of information request that indicate the University of Massachusetts, who was hired to formulate a funding plan for single payer, actually did at least start to study how a combination of a payroll tax and income tax would work to come up with the (at minimum) $1.6 billion in new taxes necessary to fund Green Mountain Care.
Wenneberg estimated that if this is, indeed, the way Green Mountain Care will be funded, the results will be roughly a 12% payroll tax increase and a doubling of the state income tax. Rep. Cynthia Browning (D-Arlington), an economist by training, estimated that under a worst case scenario (something she says UMass either never calculated, or did and the Administration is withholding the data) Green Mountain Care would require an income tax of 24% on top of the existing income tax we have now.
The Shumlin administration is now trying to delay revealing any funding details for their single payer system until 2015 after spending another $50,000 of taxpayer money on a third study on how to do it. Vermont taxpayers have already paid Dr. William Hsaio $300,000 to put together a funding plan, UMass $300,000 to put together a funding plan, and will now fork over another $50 to a 9 member panel to to the same work again, and Vermonters still have no details to show for all this time and expense. At the same time, Wendy Wilton, Rutland City Treasurer, and Rep. Cynthia Browning, working on their own and without any budgets whatsoever have been able to produce ballpark estimates of what were looking at if this thing goes forward.
Something ain’t right here….
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