Governor Shumlin of Vermont is getting ready to create either a single-payer system or a public health insurance option.
As president of the Vermont Senate, he co-sponsored legislation last year that may eventually help reduce, if not eliminate, private health insurers in the Green Mountain State, at least in providing coverage for basic medical care.
As a result of that groundwork, lawmakers were presented with three options in January that would radically change Vermont's health care financing system. One of those options: a state-based, tax-supported single payer system, similar to the one Tommy Douglas pioneered in Saskatchewan in the 1960s.
A second option would create a public insurance plan to compete with private insurers. Such an idea was considered by Congress but never made it into the final reform bill in Washington because of intense opposition from the insurance industry.
This could be a significant test market for both systems, depending on which one they go with. If it works, watch for it to spread. Fingers crossed.