Peter Shumlin, who as Vermont governor earlier this decade tried and failed to put in place a single-payer, government-run healthcare system, is endorsing Joe Biden for president.
The backing by Shumlin, 63, comes as healthcare issues roil the 2020 Democratic primary fight. Biden, 76, has eschewed proposals for the federal government to take over the healthcare system. The former vice president wants to build on the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, named for his former boss, President Barack Obama. The system largely relies on private insurance and government subsidies.
Two of Biden’s chief rivals for the Democratic nomination, Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, are pushing versions of “Medicare for All,” which would effectively eliminate private health insurance in favor of government programs.
Single-payer health systems have long been a liberal goal. But it didn’t work out so well when it was tried in Vermont.
Shumlin served three terms as governor from 2011 to 2017 and oversaw the disastrous attempt of implementing a single-payer healthcare system in the state. After running on the issue in the 2010 general election, Shumlin signed into law a bill establishing Green Mountain Care, which aimed to insure all of Vermont’s residents while eliminating all private coverage.
By 2014, Shumlin gave up on the project, later calling it “the greatest disappointment of my political life so far.” Under the plan, the state’s budget would have doubled and raised income taxes to 9.5% with an 11.5% payroll tax on all employers.
Shumlin acknowledged that such taxes could create “a risk of economic shock,” as a majority of the 626,000 residents would have their employer-provided or private plans taken away.
After he left office, Shumlin said that “single-payer [was] wrong for Vermont, [but] right for the U.S.”
