Is Pete Shumlin our Tommy Douglas?

[cali]

ANALYSIS — A Canadian-Style Single-Payer Health System in Vermont?
By Wendell Potter | March 01, 2011



http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/2953/

MONTPELIER, Vt. — Chances are you’ve never heard of Peter Shumlin, who last month was sworn in as the 81st governor or Vermont. That’s about to change. If Shumlin makes good on a signature campaign promise, he might end up as well-known and beloved in the United States as Tommy Douglas is in Canada.

OK, maybe you’ve never heard of Tommy Douglas, either. A former Baptist preacher and member of the Canadian parliament, Douglas is considered the father of Canada’s popular government-run medical insurance program.

If you’re surprised to learn that Canadians like that system, it’s probably because you’ve been convinced otherwise by a years-long propaganda campaign from American insurers — a campaign I used to help carry out as an industry PR executive.

But according to 2008 Harris Interactive polls in ten developed countries, Canadians were among those most satisfied with their health care system — while Americans were the least satisfied. Speaking of polls, in 2004, 18 years after his death, Tommy Douglas was named “The Greatest Canadian” of all time in a national contest conducted by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

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http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/2953/

[CTyankee]

1. I'm so happy about this turn of events and grateful for Shumlin.

A glimmer of good news!

[cali]

2. thank god he won. it was close

and Dubie would have been even worse than Jim Douglas. Shumlin will get this done

[CTyankee]

5. If HRC is seriously underfunded, will Shumlin be able to do single payer anyway?

[SidDithers]

3. Speaking as one who voted for Tommy Douglas in the CBC poll...

I hope Shumlin can do for you what Douglas did for us.

Sid

[cali]

4. I didn't know you were Canadian, Sid.

[SidDithers]

6. Yup. A few hundred miles west of you, just outside of Toronto...

I camped in Burlington, Vermont once, years ago and remember it very fondly.

And I loved Newhart :)

:hi:

Sid