MONTPELIER – Vermonters from all across the state converged on the statehouse on May 1st in a demonstration to show that Vermont can and should be the first state in the nation to recognize healthcare as a human right and provide it as a public good by implementing a single-payer, universal healthcare system.
Over a thousand people marched from the Montpelier City Hall down to the capital building accompanied by drums, dancers, puppets, baloons and signs supporting universal healthcare whiloe chanting “hey, hey what do we say? Vermont is ready to lead the way!” The marchers then joined another two hundred participants already at the Statehouse lawn and swarmed up the capitol steps for a festive rally. They were joined by US Sen Bernie Sanders and the rally also featured skits by various regional organizing committees of the “Healthcare Is A Human Right” campaign, musical performances by Vermont artists, and speeches by campaign leaders from all parts of the state.
Sanders, a longtime advocate of universal care, called it a “moral disgrace” that the U.S. is the only industrialized country in the world that doesn’t guarantee health care for all of its people. “I want you to pass a single-payer health care program in Vermont,” he said.
“And when you do that, I will go to the president of the United States and say, ‘Mr. President, this is what Vermont has done. Let ’em go forward’,” he said. To thunderous applaud from the crowd, Sanders added, “I’m going to go to my conservative friends in the Congress and say, ‘You believe in states’ rights. Well, here’s a state that has passed single-payer. Let ’em go forward!’”
*The Vermont “Healthcare is a Human Right” campaign was launched in 2008 by the Vermont Workers’ Center. In 2010 this grassroots struggle has resulted in promising legislation coming out of the Vermont General Assembly and has resulted in building strong rank and file Workers’ Center chapters across the Green Mountains. This campaign will continue until every Vermonter has healthcare regardless of income.
