Single-Payer Bill Dies
by Christine Stuart | May 15, 2007 2:48 PM
Posted to Health Care
| State Capitol
A bill that would have created a single-payer system of health care was filibustered in the legislature’s Finance Committee Tuesday.
Rep. Tim O’Brien said the committee was debating the bill when the House was called into session, which meant the bill died mid-debate and no vote was taken. He held out hope that nothing in the legislature is ever truly dead until the last day of session, June 6.
Health care advocates were optimistic. They said despite a misleading fiscal note and fear mongering from the insurance and business lobby the bill SB 1371 was successfully passed out of three legislative committees before dying in the Finance Committee.
“We are bolstered by the fact that this single payer bill has made it this far but are deeply concerned that leaders in the legislature continue to talk about comprehensive reform but have not put anything universal on the table,” Phil Wheeler President of Citizens for Economic Opportunity, said in a press release.
“While time is running out in this session, this bill was only one vehicle for single payer health care reform. We continue to believe that universal health care is possible and look to our legislative leaders to put a proposal on the table that gets us there before it is too late,” Beverley Brakeman, Director of CEO, said.
Research presented by the Universal Health Care Foundation indicates that a single payer system is the most cost efficient and comprehensive way to fix the health care problem for individuals and businesses. Additionally, a survey showed 84 percent of CT voters favor universal health care that is accessible, affordable, continuous, health enhancing and economically sustainable.
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