Campaign Begins Assessment Based on Human Rights Standards and Announces Call To Action: “Vermont, Stand Up, Stand Together!”

Montpelier, VT — State House — The anxiously anticipated universal healthcare bill – H.202 – was unveiled this morning in the House Committee on Healthcare by Governor Peter Shumlin’s Administration. H.202 includes the human rights principles of universality, equity, accountability, transparency, and participation as guidelines for the design of a new healthcare system for Vermont. The Healthcare Is a Human Right Campaign has begun the evaluation of the eighty-page bill using the same Detailed Human Rights Standards for Healthcare Systems which were used to comment on Dr. Hsiao’s healthcare system design proposals.

In response to the mounting opposition from healthcare industry profiteers and out-of-state interests to Vermont becoming the first state in the country to have universal healthcare, the Healthcare Is a Human Right Campaign has announced a call to action “Vermont: Stand Up, Stand Together!”

“We must push to make sure our elected officials stick to the human rights principles for this universal healthcare legislation. There will be a lot of work to be done to make improvements and additions to this bill, and to do that we will have to overcome all the paid lobbyists and advertisements bought to try to scare and divide us,” said Vermont Workers’ Center president Peg Franzen. “The only way we can do this is by continuing the grassroots organizing across the state which got us here. That is why we all calling on Vermonters across the state to Stand Up, and Stand Together so we can establish a healthcare system that’s worth fighting for and that truly works for everyone by making healthcare a public good.”

As part of this Call To Action the Healthcare Is a Human Right Campaign has launched two new initiatives.

Vermont: Stand Up/Stand Together: A series of Video Public Service Announcements (PSA’s) to be distributed widely through the grassroots; individuals emailing to family and friends and using social media networks. Watch the first Video PSA: “Stand Up Against Insurance Profiteering.”

Picture Healthcare as a Human Right: Every Face Has a Story: A statewide project of thousands of Vermonters taking photographs with the message “Healthcare Is A Human Right” to be sent to their legislators.

The Healthcare Is a Human Right Campaign’s comments on Dr. Hsaio’s draft report are available at the Vermont Workers’ Center website.

For more background on the campaign, please contact James Haslam or Peg Franzen, or go to www.workerscenter.org/healthcare.

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Read an interview with Governor Shumlin in the Washington Post, in which he affirms that a single payer system would make healthcare a right.