Single payer--better luck working at the state level?

[eridani]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0910/p09s03-coop.html

But their cause is not lost – they just need a new strategy.

Given the corporate world's disproportionate influence over Washington, it is time to take the fight for public healthcare away from Congress and into statehouses across the country.

State governments are typically far more democratic that the federal government and the public has a much greater ability to penetrate the debate. Moreover, in some states there are already legislatures and grass-roots movements that are working to make a statewide "single-payer plan" – similar to Canada's national health coverage – a reality.

Two state legislatures – Vermont and California – have, in fact, passed single-payer legislation in recent years only to have them vetoed by Republican governors. But California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) is ineligible to run for a third term and Gov. Jim Douglas (R) of Vermont has decided not to seek reelection. Either of these states could soon become the first to pass a statewide, public healthcare system that covers everyone.

"I think it makes sense to push for single-payer on a state-wide level," says Dr. Deb Richter, founder of Vermont Health Care for All. "It looks pretty grim in Washington ... so we are mobilizing our forces."

Healthcare activists in Vermont are now advocating for single-payer bills in the Senate and the House and plan to highlight the issue for the 2010 gubernatorial campaign. The Vermont Workers' Center is more than a year into a "Healthcare Is a Human Right" campaign that is releasing reports and organizing rallies all over the state.

"We think this could really happen here," says James Haslam, director of the Vermont Workers' Center. "There is a lot of excitement around this issue. Vermont could become a model for the rest of the country."

Indeed, Vermont may be the state best suited to tackle single-payer. According to a study commissioned by the Vermont Legislature in 2006, Vermont would save $51 million a year if it switched to single-payer. The state is also home to a supportive congressional delegation. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, has introduced legislation in the Senate that would enable states to have single-payer systems of their own.

There are also strong prospects for single-payer healthcare in California, where the legislature has twice passed single-payer, only to have it vetoed both times by Governor Schwarzenegger.

But Schwarzenegger has served two terms and will be replaced in 2010, a fact that has emboldened grass-roots activists. "The governor's race is the next stage for the single-payer battle in California," says Chuck Idelson, a spokesman for the California Nurses Association, which has been fighting for single-payer for years. "We need to elect a candidate that is open to single-payer."

[Bonn1997]

1. Could be a very smart business move

in addition to being the right thing to do morally. I'd imagine a lot of big businesses would move their plants to these states from other states because they wouldn't have to pay for their employees' health care. I'd imagine tax rates would have to be higher to make up for the extra cost but it would still be less than private health insurance costs and it would be spread over the entire population of the state.
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I wonder what the odds are that my current state--Alabama--will do this any time soon. (Sarcasm)