Moving Forward

Moving Forward

Burlington, VT- Congressman Bernie Sanders delivered the following statement at a press conference today from his Burlington office:

Despite Vermont's inclinations, George Bush was re-elected President and the Republicans increased their control over the U.S. Senate and the House. I believe that this is bad news for the middle class and working families of this state and country, but my job is to do the best that I can do in the circumstances we find ourselves - and that's what I intend to do.

Let me touch very briefly on just a few of the initiatives that my office will be focusing on:

Our health care system is disintegrating. Insurance rates are soaring, more and more Vermonters are uninsured or underinsured, we have serious problems with access to dental care and the people of America continue to pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. My office will be working as effectively as we can with Gov. Douglas, Lt. Gov. Dubie and the Vermont State Legislature in trying to address these very serious problems.

In terms of prescription drugs, while we await action at the federal level, I will be working with Vermont officials to facilitate a mechanism by which Vermonters can access safe and affordable medicine from abroad at a fraction of the price we currently pay. The states of Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri are now working together on a program called I-SAVE Rx which enables the residents of those states to purchase medicine from Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland. The state of Minnesota is in a separate program dealing with licensed pharmacies in just Canada. There is no reason why Vermont should not join those states, and use the capabilities of state government to save consumers substantial sums of money when they purchase prescription drugs.

In terms of dental care there are many thousands of Vermonters, including children, who are finding it hard to get the treatments they need. In recent years my office has had success in helping expand access to dental care in Franklin County, Chittenden County, Washington County, the Northeast Kingdom and Windham County - but much more has to be done. I look forward to working with state officials in attempting to expand the number of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in the state, all of which provide dental care, as well as establishing dental clinics in schools. My understanding is that hundreds of children have already signed up for the newly established dental clinic in the Wheeler School, and the dental clinic at the Molly Stark School in Bennington has been extremely successful in providing dental care to the kids of Bennington County.

As I think all Vermonters know it's my belief that everyone in our state, and in this country, should be entitled to health care as a right of citizenship. In my view it is highly unlikely that the Bush Administration, which is heavily influenced by insurance and drug companies, will move in that direction. One possible way that we might make some progress is for the federal government to give those states who wish to adopt universal health care waivers as to how they use the federal health care dollars they now receive, plus additional funding. This concept would allow the states to become real laboratories for change, and allow different state governments to try different approaches to universal health care. The model for California may not be the model for Vermont and this approach would allow for flexibility and experimentation.