Vermont Enacts Nation’s First Single-Payer Healthcare System Amid Controversy
Still not known is how pathologists and clinical laboratories will be paid for medical lab tests
In classic cart-before-the-horse thinking, Vermont enacted a law to institute a single-payer universal-coverage healthcare system within the state, starting in 2017. However, this law does not specify how the new healthcare system will be funded. That is the next challenge for the Vermont legislature.
Dark Daily suspects that anatomic pathology groups and clinical laboratories in the Green Mountain State will have a keen interest in learning how this new healthcare system will be funded—and how pathology services and medical laboratory tests will be reimbursed.
Vermont’s governor—Peter Shumlin—signed H.202 on May, 26, 2011. It is a bit surprising that this news has not gotten much coverage by national news outlets. After all, this is a major innovation at the state level that will definitely re-shape healthcare services in the Green Mountain State.
