JAMAICA — Kudos to Olga Peters for her in-depth reporting of local elections around our region this year.
After reading the recent article about the race for state representative in my legislative district [“Candidates vie to fill Olsen's Legislature seat,” News, Oct. 17], I picked up on a comment attributed to me that was not reported quite right.
The story correctly reported my concern with certain statements about health care highlighted in a recent candidates' forum, but called out the one statistic that I had actually not taken issue with.
The three assertions I highlighted as being wildly inaccurate were as follows:
1. That a majority of Vermonters are covered by Medicare.
2. That 10 percent of Vermonters have private insurance paid for by themselves or their employer.
3. That only 10 percent of Vermonters would be impacted by the proposed single-payer health-care program.
According to recent data from the state of Vermont, 15 percent of Vermonters are covered by Medicare, while 57 percent (a majority) have private health insurance.
And finally, the single-payer framework outlined in Act 48 envisions a system that includes all Vermonters - not just those who are insured in the private market - so this is an issue that affects us all and one that we should all be paying attention to.